No.  7<—77. 


00*1 


ANCIENT 


BY 

LORD  MACAULAY. 


'  — ' 


NEW  YORK: 

EFFINGHAM  MAYNABD   &   Co.. 

SUCCESSORS  TO 

CLABK  &  MAYMARD,  Publishers, 

771  BROADWAY  AND  67  &  69  NINTH  Sr. 

1891. 


L_» 

a 


AText-Book  on  English  Literature, 

With  copious  extracts  from  the  leading  authors,  English  and  Ameri- 
can. With  full  Instructions  as  to  the  Method  in  which  these  are 
to  be  studied.  Adapted  for  use  in  Colleges,  High  Schools, 
Academies,  etc.  By  BRAINEKD  KELLOGG,  A.M.,  Professor  of 
the  English  Language  and  Literature  in  the  Brooklyn  Collegiate 
and  Polytechnic  Institute,  Author  of  a  "  Text-Book  on  Rhet- 
oric/' and  one  of  the  Authors  of  Reed  &  Kellogg's  "Graded 
Lessons  in  English,"  and  "Higher  Lessons  ia  English." 
Handsomely  printed.  12mo,  478  pp. 

The  Book  is  divided  into  the  following  Periods  : 

Period  I.— Before  the  Norman  Conquest,  670-1066.  Period  II.— 
Prom  the  Conquest  to  Chaucer's  death,  1066-1400.  Period  III.— 
From  Chaucer's  death  to  Elizabeth,  1400-1558.  Period  IV.— Eliza- 
beth's  reign,  1558-1603.  Period  V.— From  Elizabeth's  death  to  the 
Restoration,  1603-3  660.  Period  VI.— From  the  Restoration  to  Swift's 
death,  1660-1745.  Period  VII. -From  Swift's  death  t>  the  French 
Revolution,  1745-1789.  Period  VIIL— From  the  French  Revolution, 
1789,  onwards. 

Bach  Period  is  preceded  by  a  Lesson  containing  a  brief  resumfi  of  the 
great  historical  events  that  have  had  somewhat  to  do  in  shaping  or  in  color- 
ing the  li terature  of  that  period. 

The  author  aims  in  this  book  to  furnish  the  pupil  that  which  he  cannot 
help  himself  to.  It  groups  the  authors  so  that  their  places  in  the  line  and 
their  relations  to  each  other  can  be  seen  by  the  pupil;  it  throws  light  upon 
the  authors'  times  and  surrounding's,  and  notes  the  great  influences  at  work, 
helping  to  make  their  writings  what  they  are :  it  points  out  such  of  these 
as  should  be  studied. 

Extracts,  as  many  and  as  ample  as  th*  limits  of  a  text-book  would 
allow,  have  been  made  from  the  principal  writers  of  each  Period.  Such  are 
eelected  as  contain  the  characteristic  traits  of  their  authors,  both  in 
thought  and  expression,  and  but  few  of  these  extracts  have  ever  seen  the 
light  in  books  of  selections— none  of  them  have  been  worn  threadbare  by 
use,  or  have  lost  their  freshness  by  the  pupil's  f  amiliarity  with  them  in  the 
school  readers. 

It  teaches  the  pupil  how  the  selections  are  to  be  studied,  soliciting  and 
exacting  his  judgment  at  every  step  of  the  way  which  leads  from  the 
author's  diction  up  through  his  style  and  thought  to  the  author  himself, 
and  in  many  other  ways  it  places  the  pupil  on  the  best  possible  footing  with 
the  authors  whose  acquaintance  it  is  his  business,  as  well  as  his  pleasure,  to 
make. 

Short  estimates  of  the  leading  authors,  made  by  the  best  English  and 
American  critics,  have  been  inserted,  most  of  them  contemporary  with  us. 

The  author  has  endeavored  to  make  a  practical,  common-sense  text- 
book: one  that  would  so  educate  the  student  that  he  would  know  and 
enjoy  good  literature.  

"  I  find  the  book  in  its  treatment  of  English  literature  superior  to  any  other  I 
have  examined.  Its  maiu  feature,  which  should  be  the  leading  one  of  all  similar 
books,  is  that  it  is  a  means  to  an  end,  simply  a  guide-book  to  the  study  of  Enyheh 
literature.  Too  many  students  in  the  past  have  studied,  not  the  literature  of  the 
English  language,  but  some  author's  opinion  of  that  literature.  I  know  from  ex- 
perience that  your  method  of  treatment  will  prove  an  eminently  successful  one."— 
James  3.  Stodte,  Prin,  of  the  West  High  School,  Cleveland,  0. 

-    EFFINGHAM  MAYNAED  &  Co.,  Publishers.  ', 


A  TEXT-BOOK  ON  RHETORIC; 

SUPPLKMKLN  Tl  N  Q   TITS  DK  V  ELOPMETTT  OF   THE  SCIENCE  WITH 

EXHAUSTIVE  PRACTICE  IN  COMPOSITION. 

A  Course  of  Practical  Lessons  Adapted  for  nso  in  nigh  Schools  and 
Academies,  and  in  the  Lower  Classes  of  Colleges, 

BT 

BRAINERD  KELLOGG,  A.M., 

Professor  of  the  English  Language  and  Literature  in  the  BrooJdyn 

CoUegiate  and  Polytechnic  .Institute,  and  one  of  the  authors  of 

Meed  &  Eettogg's  "  Graded  Lessons  in  EngUsh" 

and  "Higher  Lessons  in  English." 


In  preparing  this  work  upon  Rhetoric,  the  author's  aim  has  been  to 
write  a  practical  text-book  for  High  Schools,  Academies,  and  the  lower 
classes  of  Colleges,  based  upon  the  science  rather  than  an  exhaustive 
treatise  upon  the  science  itself. 

This  work  has  grown  up  out  of  the  belief  that  the  rhetoric  which 
th»  pupil  needs  is  not  that  which  lodges  finally  in  the  memory,  but  that 
wh;ch  has  worked  its  way  down  into  his  tongue  and  fingers,  enabling 
him  to  speak  and  write  the  better  for  having  studied  it.  The  author 
believes  that  the  aim  of  the  study  should  be  to  put  the  pupil  in  posses- 
sion of  an  art,  and  that  this  can  be  done  not  by  forcing  the  science  into 
him  through  eye  and  ear,  but  by  drawing  it  out  of  him,  in  products, 
through  tongue  and  pen.  Hence  all  explanations  of  principles  are  fol- 
lowed by  eiJiaustive  practice  in  Composition — to  this  everything  is  made 
tributary. 


'•  KEUOOQG'S  RHETORIC  Is  evidently  the 
fruit  of  scholarship  and  large  experience. 
The  author  has  collected  his  own  niate- 
riale,  and  dippoeed  of  them  with  the  skill 
of  a  master ;  his  statements  are  precise, 
lucid,  and  sufficiently  copious.  Nothing 
ie  sacrificed  to  show  ;  the  book  is  intended 
for  use.  and  the  abundance  of  examples 
will  constitute  one  of  its  chief  merits  in 
the  eye  s  of  the  thorough  teacher." — Prof. 
A.  8.  Cook,  John*  Hoipkina  University, 
Balttmer*,  Md. 


"This  Is  jnst  the  work  to  take  the 
place  9f  the  much-stilted  'Sentential 
Analysis  *  that  is  being  waded  through  to 
little  purpose  by  the  Grammar  and  High 
School  pupils  of  our  country.  This  work 
not  only  teaches  the  discipline  of  analyz- 
ing thought,  but  leads  the  student  to 
feel  that  it  is  his  thought  that  is  being 
dealt  with,  dissected,  and  unfolded,  to 
efficient  expression."— Prof.  O.  S.  Albee, 
Prest.  of  State  formal  School,  QtMcoeh, 
Wie. 


270  pages,  12mo,  attractively  bound  in  cloth. 


EFFINGHAM  MAYNAED  &  Co.,  Publishers. 


GIFT   OF 
Felix  Fllteel 


ENGLISH   CLASSIC   SKLILEB^NO.  76-7"'. 


LAYS  OF 


HOME, 


HORATIUS.  VIRGINIA. 

BATTLE  OF  THE  LAKE  REGILLUS.  PROPHECY  OF  CAPYS. 


LORD  MACAULAY. 


Neto  HMttoit,  tottfj   ISvplauatori?  Notes, 


NEW  YORK : 

EFFINGHAM  MAYNARD  &  Co.,  PUBLISHERS, 

771  BROADWAY  AND  67  &  69  NINTH  STREET. 
1890. 


Mill 


A  COMPLETE  COURSE  IN  THE  STUDY  OF  ENGLISH, 

Spelling,  Language,  Grammar,  Composition,  Literature. 

REED'S  WORD  LESSONS-A  COMPLETE  SPELLER. 
REED'S  INTRODUCTORY  LANGUAGE  WORK. 

REED  &  KELLOGG'S  GRADED  LESSONS  IN  ENGLISH. 
REED  &  KELLOGG'S  HIGHER  LESSONS  IN  ENGLISH. 

REED  &  KELLOGG'S  ONE-BOOK  COURSE  IN  ENGLISH 
KELLOGG'S  TEXT-BOOK  ON  RHETORIC. 

KELLOGG'S  TEXT-BOOK  ON  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 


In  the  preparation  of  this  series  the  authors  have  had  one  object 
clearly  in  view — to  so  develop  the  study  of  the  English  language  as 
to  present  a  complete,  progressive  course,  from  the  Spelling- Book  to 
the  study  of  English  Literature.  The  troublesome  contradictions 
which  arise  in  using  books  arranged  by  different  authors  on  these 
subjects,  and  which  require  much  time  for  explanation  in  the  school- 
room, will  be  avoided  by  the  use  of  the  above  "Complete  Course," 

Teachers  are  earnestly  invited  to  examine  these  books. 

EFFINGHAM  MAYNARD  &  Co.,  PUBLISHERS, 

771  Broadway,  New  York. 


LIFE  OF  MACAULAT. 

THOMAS  BABINGTON  MACAULAY,  the  great  historian  of  England,  was 
born  at  Rothley,  near  Leicester,  in  1800,  and  was  named  Thomas  Bab- 
ington  after  his  uncle.  Macaulay's  grandfather  was  a  Scotch  minister, 
and  his  father,  Zaehary,  after  having  spent  some  time  in  Jamiii<-a, 
returned  to  England,  and  joined  Wilberforce  and  Clarkson  in  their 
efforts  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  British  possessions.  Macaulay  was 
educated  at  Bristol  and  at  Cambridge,  where  hegained  great  distinction, 
and  twice  won  medals  for  his  poems.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Union  Debating  Society,  a  famous  club  where  young  politicians  tried 
their  skill  in  the  discussion  of  the  affairs  of  State.  He  took  his  degree 
of  M.A.  in  1835,  was  called  to  the  bar  in  1826,  and  contributed  exten- 
sively to  Knight's  Quarterly  Magazine,  in  which  his  first  literary  efforts 
appeared,  including  among  others  the  ballads  of  "The  Spanish  Ar- 
mada "  and  "  The  Battle  of  Ivry."  In  1825  he  contributed  to  the  Edin- 
burgh Review  his  celebrated  article  on  Milton,  and  this  was  succeeded 
by  numerous  others  on  various  themes,  historical,  political,  and  literary, 
which  were  afterward  collected  and  published  separately. 

Macaulay  was  a  member  of  Parliament  first  for  Colne,  then  for  Leeds, 

and  took  part  in  the  great  discussions  connected  •svith  the  Reform  Bill 

of  1832.    In  return  for  his  services  to  his  party,  he  was  sent  to  India  in 

1834  as  a  member  of  the  Council,  and  while  there  wrote  his  famous 

essays  on  Lord  Clive  and  Warren  Hastings.     In  1839  Macaulay  returned 

to  England,  was  elected  member  for  Edinburgh,  and,  during  the  eight 

years  of  his  connection  with  that  city,  held  successively  the  offices  of 

Secretary  at  War  and  Paymaster-General  of  the  Forces.     In  1842  he  gave 

^ to  the  world  his  spirited  ' '  Lays  of  Ancient  Rome. ' '    In  1847  he  displeased 

1    his  Edinburgh  supporters,  and  in  a.pet  they  rejected  him  ;  but  in  1852 

V  they  re-elected  him  of  their  own  accord,  and  in  this  way  endeavored  to 

^  atone  for  the  past.     He  devoted  the  interval  between  these  two  dates  to 

"    his  History  of  England,  the  first  two  volumes  of  which  were  published 

in  1848,  two  others  making  their  appearance  in  1855.     They  form  a  mag- 

^  uificent  fragment  of  historical  writing,  embracing  a  period  of  little  more 

S  than  twelve  years,  from  the  accession  of  James  II.  to  the  Peace  of  Rys- 

^   wick,  in  1697.    A  fifth  volume,  compiled  from  the  papers  which  he  left 

3 


M30351S 


iLLFE   OF  MACAULAY. 


behind,  and  bringing  the  work  down  to  the  death  of  William  III., 
ya^;t>ut)lreh^4  posthumously  id -1859.  He  retired  from  Parliament  iii 
3S96,;o\*ing.,t6  failing  hca&ti',  an£  in  the  following  year  he  was  created 
a  baron  in  consideration  of  his  great  literary  merit.  In  1859  he  died 
suddenly  of  disease  of  the  heart,  and  was  buried  in  Westminster 
Abbey. 

Lord  Macaulay  excelled  as  a  poet  and  essayist,  but  he  is  chiefly  illus- 
trious as  a  historian.  In  the  opening  chapter  of  his  History  of  England 
the  author  announces  his  intention  to  write  a  history  from  the  accession 
of  James  IL  down  to  a  time  within  the  memory  of  men  still  living.  Its 
success  was  very  great.  History  was  no  longer  dry  and  uninviting,  for 
Macaulay  had  become  a  painter  as  well  as  a  chronicler.  The  events  of 
the  past  are  depicted  in  such  fresh  and  striking  coloring  that  they  have 
all  the  interest  of  absolute  novelty.  We  have  life-like  portraits  of  the 
great  men  of  the  age,  landscapes  and  street  scenes,  spirit- stirring  de- 
scriptions of  insurrections  and  trials  and  sieges,  and  graphic  pictures 
of  manners  and  customs.  Macaulay  had  a  very  wonderful  memory,  of 
which  he  was  proud,  and  he  was  able  to  collect  and  retain  stores  of  in- 
formation from  all  manner  of  old  books,  papers,  and  parchments,  and 
to  make  use  of  them  in  the  production  of  his  history.  He  is  not  always 
impartial,  but  sufficiently  so  to  be  considered  the  best  authority  on  that 
portion  of  history  with  which  he  deals. 

Macaulay's  personal  appearance  was  never  better  described  than  in 
two  sentences  of  Praed's  Introduction  to  Knight's  Quarterly  Magazine: 
"  There  comes  up  a  short  manly  figure,  marvelously  upright,  wilh  a  bad 
neckcloth,  and  one  hand  in  his  waistcoat  pocket.  Of  regular  beauty 
he  had  little  to  boast ;  but  in  faces  where  there  is  an  expression  of  great 
power,  or  great  good  humor,  or  both,  you  do  not  regret  its  absence." 
This  picture,  in  which  every  touch  is  correct,  tells  us  all  that  there  is 
to  be  told.  He  had  a  massive  head,  and  features  of  a  powerful  and 
rugged  cast ;  but  so  constantly  lighted  up  by  every  joyful  and  ennobling 
emotion,  that  it  mattered  little  if,  when  absolutely  quiescent,  his  face 
was  rather  homely  than  handsome.  While  conversing  at  table,  no  one 
thought  him  otherwise  than  good-looking ;  but  when  he  rose  he  wns 
seen  to  be  short  and  stout  in  figure.  He  at  all  times  sat  and  stood 
straight,  full,  and  square.  He  dressed  badly,  but  not  cheaply.  His 
clothes,  though  ill  put  on,  were  good,  and  his  wardrobe  was  always 
enormously  over-stocked.  Macaulay  was  bored  in  the  best  of  society, 
but  took  unceasing  delight  in  children.  He  was  the  best  of  play- 
fellows unrivaled  in  the  invention  of  games,  and  never  weary  of  repeat- 
ing them, 


PKEFACE. 

THAT  what  is  called  the  history  of  the  Kings  and  early  Con- 
suls of  Itoiiu'  is  to  a  great  extent  fabulous,  few  scholars  have, 
sinee  the  time  of  Beaufort,  ventured  to  deny.  It  is  certain  that, 
more  than  three  hundred  and  sixty  years  after  the  date  ordinarily 
assigned  for  the  foundation  of  the  city,  the  public  records  were, 
with  scarcely  an  exception,  destroyed  by  the  Gauls.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  the  oldest  annals  of  the  commonwealth  were  compiled 
more  than  a  century  and  a  half  after  this  destruction  of  the  rec- 
ords. It  is  certain,  therefore,  that  the  great  Latin  writers  of  the 
Augustan  age  did  not  possess  those  materials,  without  which  a 
trustworthy  account  of  the  infancy  of  the  republic  could  not 
possibly  be  framed.  Those  writers  own,  indeed,  that  the  chron- 
icles to  which  they  had  access  were  tilled  wTith  battles  that  were 
never  fought,  and  Consuls  that  were  never  inaugurated  ;  and  we 
have  abundant  proof  that,  in  tnese  chronicles,  events  of  the 
greatest  importance,  such  as  the  issue  of  the  war  with  Porsena, 
and  the  issue  of  the  war  with  Brennus,  were  grossly  misrepre- 
sented. Under  these  circumstances  a  wise  man  will  look  with 
great  suspicion  on  the  legend  which  has  come  down  to  us.  He 
will  perhaps  be  inclined  to  regard  the  princes  who  are  said  to 
have  founded  the  civil  and  religious  institutions  of  Rome,  the 
son  of  Mars,  and  the  husband  of  Egeria,  as  mere  mythological 
personages,  of  the  same  class  with  Perseus  and  Ixion.  As  he 
draws  nearer  and  nearer  to  the  confines  of  authentic  history,  he 
will  become  less  and  less  hard  of  belief.  He  will  admit  that  the 
most  important  parts  of  the  narrative  have  some  foundation  in 
truth.  But  he  will  distrust  almost  all  the  details,  not  only  be- 
cause they  seldom  rest  on  any  solid  evidence,  but  also  because 
he  will  constantly  detect  in  them,  even  when  they  are  within  the 
limits  of  physical  possibility,  that  peculiar  character  more  easily 
understood  than  defined,  which  distinguishes  the  creations  of  the 
imagination  from  the  realities  of  the  world  in  which  we  live. 

The  early  history  of  Rome  is  indeed  far  more  poetical  than 

3 


4  PREFACE. 

anything  else  in  Latin  literature.  The  loves  of  the  Vestal  and 
the  God  of  War,  the  cradle  laid  among  the  reeds  of  Tiber,  the 
fig-tree,  the  she-wolf,  the  shepherd's  cabin,  the  recognition,  the 
fratricide,  the  rape  of  the  Sabiues,  the  death  of  Tarpeia,  the  fall 
of  Hostus  Hostilius,  the  struggle  of  Mettus  Curtius  through  the 
marsh,  the  women  rushing  with  torn  raiment  and  disheveled 
hair  between  their  fathers  and  their  husbands,  the  nightly  meet- 
ings of  Numa  and  the  Nymph  by  the  well  in  the  sacred  grove, 
the  fight  of  the  three  Romans  and  the  three  Albans.  the  purchase 
of  the  Sibyline  books,  the  crime  of  Tullia,  the  simulated  mad- 
ness of  Brutus,  the  ambiguous  reply  of  the  Delphian  oracle  to 
the  Tarquins,  the  wrongs  of  Lucretia,  the  heroic  actions  of  Ho- 
ratius  Codes,  of  Scsevola,  and  of  Cloelia,  the  battle  of  Regillus 
won  by  the  aid  of  Castor  and  Pollux,  the  defense  of  Cremera, 
the  touching  story  of  Coriolanus,  the  still  more  touching  story  of 
Virginia,  the  wild  legend  about  the  draining  of  the  Alban  lake, 
the  combat  between  Valerius  Corvus  and  the  gigantic  Gaul,  are 
among  the  many  instances  which  will  at  once  suggest  themselves 
to  every  reader. 

In  the  narrative  [of  Livy,  who  was  a  man  of  fine  imagination, 
these  stories  retain  much  of  their  genuine  character.  Nor  could 
even  the  tasteless  Dionysius  distort  and  mutilate  them  into  mere 
prose.  The  poetry  shines,  in  spite  of  him,  through  the  dreary 
pedantry  of  his  eleven  books.  It  is  discernible  in  the  most  te- 
dious and  in  the  most  superficial  modern  works  on  the  early 
times  of  Rome.  It  enlivens  the  dullness  of  the  Universal  His- 
tory, and  gives  a  charm  to  the  most  meager  abridgments  of 
Goldsmith. 

Even  in  the  age  of  Plutarch  there  were  discerning  men  who 
rejected  the  popular  account  of  the  foundation  of  Rome,  because 
that  account  appeared  to  them  to  have  the  air,  not  of  a  history, 
but  of  a  romance  or  a  drama.  Plutarch,  who  was  displeased  at 
their  incredulity,  had  nothing  better  to  say  in  reply  to  their  ar- 
guments than  that  chance  sometimes  turns  poet,  and  produces 
trains  of  events  not  to  be  distinguished  from  the  most  elaborate 
plots  which  are  constructed  by  art.  But  though  the  existence  of 
a  poetical  element  in  the  early  history  of  the  Great  City  was  de- 
tected so  many  years  ago,  the  first  critic  who  distinctly  saw  from 
what  source  that  poetical  element  had  been  derived  was  James 
Perizonius,  one  of  the  most  acute  and  learned  antiquaries  of  the 


PREFACE.  5 

seventeenth  century.  His  theory,  which,  in  his  own  days,  at- 
tracted little  or  no  notice,  was  revived  in  the  present  gnu-ration 
by  Niebuhr,  a  man  who  would  have  heen  the  first  writer  of  his 
time,  if  his  talent  for  communicating  truths  had  borne  any  pro- 
portion to  his  talent  for  investigating  them.  That  theory  has 
been  adopted  by  several  eminent  scholars  of  our  own  country, 
particularly  by  the  Bishop  of  St.  David's,  by  Professor  Maiden, 
and  by  the  lamented  Arnold.  It  appears  to  be  now  generally 
received  by  men  conversant  with  classical  antiquity  ;  and  indeed 
it  rests  on  such  strong  proofs,  both  internal  and  external,  that  it 
will  not  be  easily  subverted.  A  popular  exposition  of  this  the- 
ory, and  of  the  evidence  by  which  it  is  supported,  may  not  be 
without  interest  even  for  readers  who  are  unacquainted  with  the 
ancient  languages. 

The  Latin  literature  which  has  come  down  to  us  is  of  later  date 
than  the  commencement  of  the  Second  Punic  War,  and  consists 
almost  exclusively  of  works  fashioned  on  Greek  models.  The 
Latin  meters,  heroic,  elegiac,  lyric,  and  dramatic,  are  of  Greek 
origin.  The  best  Latin  epic  poetry  is  the  feeble  echo  of  the  Iliad 
and  Odyssey.  The  best  Latin  eclogues  are  imitations  of  Theoc- 
ritus. The  plan  of  the  most  finished  didactic  poem  in  the  Latin 
tongue  was  taken  from  Hesiod.  The  Latin  tragedies  are  bad 
copies  of  the  masterpieces  of  Sophocles  and  Euripides.  The 
Latin  comedies  are  free  translations  from  Demophilus,  Menander, 
and  Appollodorus.  The  Latin  philosophy  was  borrowed,  with- 
out alteration,  from  the  Portico  and  the  Academy  ;  and  the  great 
Latin  orators  constantly  proposed  to  themselves  as  patterns  the 
speeches  of  Demosthenes  and  Lysias. 

But  there  was  an  earlier  Latin  literature,  a  literature  truly  Latin, 
which  has  wholly  perished,  which  had,  indeed,  almost  wholly  per- 
ished long  before  those  whom  we  are  in  the  habit  of  regarding  as 
the  greatest  Latin  writers  were  born.  That  literature  abounded 
with  metrical  romances,  such  as  are  found  in  every  country  where 
there  is  much  curiosity  and  intelligence,  but  little  reading  and 
writing.  All  human  beings,  not  utterly  savage,  long  for  some 
information  about  past  times,  and  are  delighted  by  narratives 
which  present  pictures  to  the  eye  of  the  mind.  But  it  is  only  in 
very  enlightened  communities  that  books  are  readily  accessible. 
Metrical  composition,  therefore,  which,  in  a  highly  civilized  na- 
tion, is  a  mere  luxury,  is,  in  nations  imperfectly  civilized,  almost 


6  PREFACE. 

a  necessary  of  life,  and  is  valued  less  on  account  of  the  pleasure 
which  it  gives  to  the  ear  than  on  account  of  the  help  which  it 
gives  to  the  memory.  A  man  who  can  invent  or  embellish  an 
interesting  story,  and  put  it  into  a  form  which  others  may  easily 
retain  in  their  recollection,  will  always  be  highy  esteemed  by  a 
people  eager  for  amusement  and  information,  but  destitute  of 
libraries.  Such  is  the  origin  of  ballad-poetry,  a  species  of  com- 
position which  scarcely  ever  fails  to  spring  up  and  flourish  in 
every  society,  at  a  certain  point  in  the  progress  towards  refine- 
ment. Tacitus  informs  us  that  songs  were  the  only  memorials 
of  the  past  which  the  ancient  Germans  possessed.  We  learn 
from  Lucan  and  from  Ammianus  Marcellmus  that  the  brave 
actions  of  the  ancient  Gauls  were  commemorated  in  the  verses  of 
Bards.  During  many  ages,  and  through  many  revolutions,  min- 
strelsy retained  its  influence  over  both  the  Teutonic  and  the  Cel- 
tic races.  The  vengeance  exacted  by  the  spouse  of  Attila  for  the 
murder  of  Siegfried  was  celebrated  in  rhymes,  of  which  Germany 
is  still  justly  proud.  The  exploits  of  Athelstane  were  commemo- 
rated by  the  Anglo-Saxons,  and  those  of  Canute  by  the  Danes,  in 
rude  poems,  of  which  a  few  fragments  have  come  down  to  us. 
The  chants  of  the  Welsh  harpers  preserved,  through  ages  of  dark- 
ness, a  faint  and  doubtful  memory  of  Arthur.  In  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland  may  still  be  gleaned  some  relics  of  the  old  songs  about 
Cuthullin  and  Fingal.  The  long  struggle  of  the  Servians  against 
the  Ottoman  power  was  recorded  in  lays  full  of  martial  spirit. 
We  learn  from  Herrera  that,  when  a  Peruvian  Inca  died,  men 
of  skill  were  appointed  to  celebrate  him  in  verses,  which  all  the 
people  learned  by  heart,  and  sang  in  public  on  dajTs  of  festival. 
The  feats  of  Kurroglou,  the  great  freebooter  of  Turkistan,  re- 
counted in  ballads  composed  by  himself,  are  known  in  every 
village  of  Northern  Persia.  Captain  Beechey  heard  the  Bards 
of  the  Sandwich  Islands  recite  the  heroic  achievements  of  Tarn- 
ehameha,  the  most  illustrious  of  their  kings.  Mungo  Park  found 
in  the  heart  of  Africa  a  class  of  singing-men,  the  only  annalists 
of  their  rude  tribes,  and  heard  them  tell  the  story  of  the  victory 
which  Darnel,  the  negro  prince  of  the  Jaloffs,  won  over  Abdul- 
kader,  the  Mussulman  tyrant  of  Foota  Torra.  This  species  of 
poetry  attained  a  high  degree  of  excellence  among  the  Castilians, 
before  they  began  to  copy  Tuscan  patterns.  It  attained  a  still 
higher  degree  of  excellence  among  the  English  and  the  Lowland 


PTU.  r  \  <  i  .  7 

Scotch,  during  the  fourteenth,  fifteenth,  and  sixteenth  centuries. 
Hut  it  reached  its  full  perfection  in  ancient  (Jreece  ;  for  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  great  Homeric  pnmis  are  generirally 
ballads,  though  widely  distinguished  from  all  other  ballads,  and 
indeed  from  almost  all  other  human  compositions,  by  transcend- 
ent sublimity  and  beauty. 

As  it  is  agreeable  to  general  experience  that,  at  a  certain  stage 
in  the  progress  of  society,  ballad-poetry  should  flourish,  so  it  is 
al<o  agreeable  to  general  experience  that,  at  a  subsequent  stage 
in  the  progress  of  society,  ballad-poetry  should  be  undervalued 
and  neglected.  Knowledge  advances :  manners  change  :  great 
foreign  models  of  composition  are  studied  and  imitated.  The 
phraseology  of  the  old  minstrels  becomes  obsolete.  Their  versi- 
tication,  which,  having  received  its  laws  only  from  the  ear, 
abounds  in  irregularities,  seems  licentious  and  uncouth.  Their 
simplicity  appears  beggarly  when  compared  with  the  quaint 
forms  and  gaudy  coloring  of  such  artists  as  Cowley  and  Gongora. 
The  ancient  lays,  unjustly  despised  by  the  learned  and  polite, 
linger  for  a  time  in  the  memory  of  the  vulgar,  and  are  at  length 
too  often  irretrievably  lost.  We  cannot  wonder  that  the  ballads 
of  Rome  should  have  altogether  disappeared,  when  we  remember 
how  very  narrowly,  in  spite  of  the  invention  of  printing,  those  of 
our  own  country  and  those  of  Spain  escaped  the  same  fate. 
There  is  indeed  little  doubt  that  oblivion  covers  many  English 
songs  equal  to  any  that  were  published  by  Bishop  Percy,  and 
many  Spanish  songs  as  good  as  the  best  of  those  which  have  been 
so  happily  translated  by  Mr.  Lockhart.  Eighty  years  ago  Eng- 
land possessed  only  one  tattered  copy  of  Childe  Waters  and  Sir 
Cauline,  and  Spain  only  one  tattered  copy  of  the  noble  poem  of 
the  Cid.  The  snuff  of  a  candle,  or  a  mischievous  dog,  might  in 
a  moment  have  deprived  the  world  forever  of  any  of  those  fine 
compositions.  Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  united  to  the  fire  of  a  great 
poet  the  minute  curiosity  and  patient  diligence  of  a  great  anti- 
quary, was  but  just  in  time  to  save  the  precious  relics  of  the  Min- 
strelsy of  the  Border.  In  Germany,  the  lay  of  the  Nibeluugs 
had  been  long  utterly  forgotten,  when,  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
it  was,  for  the  first  time,  printed  from  a  manuscript  in  the  old 
library  of  a  noble  family.  In  truth,  the  only  people  who,  through 
their  whole  passage  from  simplicity  to  the  highest  civilization, 


8  PREFACE. 

never  for  a  moment  ceased  to  love  and  admire  their  old  ballads, 
were  the  Greeks. 

That  the  early  Romans  should  have  had  ballad-poetry,  and 
that  this  poetry  should  have  perished,  is  therefore  not  strange. 
It  would,  on  the  contrary,  have  been  strange  if  these  things  had 
not  come  to  pass  ;  and  we  should  be  justified  in  pronouncing 
them  highly  probable,  even  if  we  had  no  direct  evidence  on  the 
subject.  But  we  have  direct  evidence  of  unquestionable  author- 
ity. 

Ennius,  who  flourished  in  the  time  of  the  Second  Punic  War, 
was  regarded  in  the  Augustan  age  us  the  father  of  Latin  poetry. . 
He  was,  in  truth,  the  father  of  the  second  school  of  Latin  poetry, 
the  only  school  of  which  the  works  have  descended  to  us.  But 
from  Enuius  himself  we  learn  that  there  were  poets  who  stood  to 
him  in  the  same  relation  in  which  the  author  of  the  romance  of 
Count  Alarcos  stood  to  Garcilaso,  or  the  author  of  the  "  Lytell 
Geste  of  Robyn  Hode  "  to  Lord  Surrey.  Enuius  speaks  of  verses 
which  the  Fauns  and  the  Bards  were  wont  to  chant  in  the  old 
time,  when  none  had  yet  studied  the  graces  of  speech,  when  none 
had  yet  climbed  the  peaks  sacred  to  the  Goddesses  of  Grecian 
song.  "  Where,"  Cicero  mournfully  asks,  "  are  those  old  verses 
now  ?" 

Contemporary  with  Ennius  was  Quintus  Fabius  Pictor,  the 
earliest  of  the  Roman  annalists.  His  account  of  the  infancy  and 
youth  of  Romulus  and  Remus  has  been  preserved  by  Dionysius, 
and  contains  a  very  remarkable  reference  to  the  ancient  Latin 
poetry.  Fabius  says  that,  in  his  time,  his  countrymen  were  still 
in  the  habit  of  singing  ballads  about  the  Twins.  "Even  in  the 
hut  of  Faustulus," — so  these  old  lays  appear  to  have  run, — "  the 
children  of  Rhea  and  Mars  were,  in  port  and  in  spirit,  not  like 
unto  swineherds  or  cowherds,  but  such  that  men  might  well 
guess  them  to  be  of  the  blood  of  Kings  and  Gods. 

Cato  the  Censor,  who  also  lived  in  the  days  of  the  Second  Pu- 
nic War,  mentioned  this  lost  literature  in  his  lost  work  on  the  an- 
tiquities of  his  country.  Many  ages,  he  said,  before  his  time, 
there  were  ballads  in  praise  of  illustrious  men  ;  and  these  ballads 
it  was  the  fashion  for  the  guests  at  banquets  to  sing  in  turn  while 
the  piper  played.  "Would,"  exclaims  Cicero,  "that  we  still 
had  the  old  ballads  of  which  Cato  speaks  !" 

Valerius  Maxiinus  gives  us  exactly  similar  information,  without 


PREFACE.  9 

mentioning  his  authority,  and  ohscrvcs  that  the  ancient  Roman 
ballads  were  probably  of  more  benefit  to  the  young  than  all  the 
lectures  of  the  Athenian  sehoois,  and  that  to  the  inlluenee  of  the 
national  poetry  were  to  he  ascribed  the  virtues  of  such  men  as 
Camillus  and  Fabricius. 

Varro,  whose  authority  on  all  questions  connected  with  the 
antiquities  of  his  country  is  entitled  to  the  greatest  respect,  tells 
us  that  at  banquets  it  was  once  the  fashion  for  boys  to  sing,  some- 
times with  and  sometimes  without  instrumental  music,  ancient 
ballads  in  praise  of  men  of  former  times.  These  young  perform- 
ers, he  observes,  were  of  unblemished  character,  a  circumstance 
which  he  probably  mentioned  because,  among  the  Greeks,  and 
indeed  in  his  time  among  the  Romans  also,  the  morals  of  sing- 
ing-boys were  in  no  high  repute. 

The  testimony  of  Horace,  though  given  incidentally,  confirms 
the  statements  of  Cato,  Valerius  Maximus,  and  Varro.  The  poet 
predicts  that,  under  the  peaceful  administration  of  Augustus,  the 
Romans  will,  over  their  full  goblets,  sing  to  the  pipe,  after  the 
fashion  of  their  fathers,  the  deeds  of  brave  captains,  and  the  an- 
cient legends  touching  the  origin  of  the  city. 

The  proposition,  then,  that  Rome  had  ballad-poetry  is  not 
merely  in  itself  highly  probable,  but  is  fully  proved  by  direct 
evidence  of  the  greatest  weight. 

This  proposition  being  established,  it  becomes  easy  to  under- 
stand why  the  early  history  of  the  city  is  unlike  almost  every- 
thing else  in  Latin  literature,  native  where  almost  everything  else' 
is  borrowed,  imaginative  where  almost  everything  else  is  pro- 
saic. We  can  scarcely  hesitate  to  pronounce  that  the  magnificent, 
pathetic,  and  truly  national  legends,  which  present  so  striking  a 
contrast  to  all  that  surrounds  them,  are  broken  and  defaced  frag- 
ments of  that  early  poetry  which,  even  in  the  age  of  Cato  the 
Censor,  had  become  antiquated,  and  of  which  Tully  had  never 
heard  a  line. 

That  this  poetry  should  have  been  suffered  to  perish  will  not 
appear  strange  when  we  consider  how  complete  was  the  triumph 
of  the  Greek  genius  over  the  public  mind  of  Itoly.  It  is  probable 
that,  at  an  early  period,  Homer  and  Herodotus  furnished  some 
hints  to  the  Latin  minstrels :  but  it  was  not  till  after  the  war 
with  Pyrrhus  that  the  poetry  of  Rome  began  to  put  off  its  old 
Ausonian  character.  The  transformation  was  soon  consummated. 


10  PREFACE. 

The  conquered,  says  Horace,  led  captive  the  conquerors.  It  was 
precisely  at  the  time  at  which  the  Roman  people  rose  to  unri- 
valed political  ascendency  that  they  stooped  to  pass  under  the 
intellectual  yoke.  It  was  precisely  at  the  time  at  which  the  scep- 
ter departed  from  Greece  that  the  empire  of  her  language  and  of 
her  arts  became  universal  and  despotic.  The  revolution  indeed 
was  not  effected  without  a  struggle.  Naevius  seems  to  have  been 
the  last  of  the  ancient  line  of  poets.  Ennius  was  the  founder  of 
a  new  dynasty.  Nrcvius  celebrated  the  First  Punic  War  in  Sa- 
turnian  verse,  the  old  national  verse  of  Italy.  Ennius  sang  the 
Second  Punic  War  in  numbers  borrowed  from  the  Iliad.  The 
elder  poet,  in  the  epitaph  which  he  wrote  for  himself,  and  which 
is  a  fine  specimen  of  the  early  Roman  diction  and  versification, 
plaintively  boasted  that  the  Latin  language  had  died  with  him. 
Thus  what  to  Horace  appeared  to  be  the  first  faint  dawn  of  Ro- 
man literature,  appeared  to  Naevius  to  be  its  hopeless  setting. 
In  truth,  one  literature  was  setting,  and  another  dawning. 

The  victory  of  the  foreign  taste  was  decisive  :  and  indeed  we 
can  hardly  blame  the  Romans  for  turning  away  with  contempt 
from  the  rude  lays  which  had  delighted  their  fathers,  and  giving 
their  whole  admiration  to  the  immortal  productions  of  Greece. 
The  national  romances,  neglected  by  the  great  and  the  refined 
whose  education  had  been  finished  at  Rhodes  or  Athens,  contin- 
ued, it  may  be  supposed,  during  some  generations,  to  delight  the 
vulgar.  While  Virgil,  in  hexameters  of  exquisite  modulation, 
described  the  sports  of  rustics,  those  rustics  were  still  singing 
their  wild  Saturniau  ballads.  It  is  not  improbable  that,  at  the 
time  when  Cicero  lamented  the  irreparable  loss  of  the  poems 
mentioned  by  Cato,  a  search  among  the  nooks  of  the  Apennines, 
as  active  as  the  search  which  Sir  Walter  Scott  made  among  the 
descendants  of  the  mosstroopers  of  Liddesdale,  might  have 
brought  to  light  many  fine  remains  of  ancient  minstrelsy.  No 
such  search  was  made.  The  Latin  ballads  perished  forever. 
Yet  discerning  critics  have  thought  that  they  could  still  perceive 
in  the  early  history  of  Rome  numerous  fragments  of  this  lost 
poetry,  as  the  traveler  on  classic  ground  sometimes  finds,  built 
into  the  heavy  wall  of  a  fort  or  convent,  a  pillar  rich  with  acan- 
thus-leaves, or  a  frieze  where  the  Amazons  and  Bacchanals  seem 
to  live.  The  theaters  and  temples  of  the  Greek  and  the  Roman 
were  degraded  into  the  quarries  of  the  Turk  and  the  Goth. 


PKKFACK.  11 

Even  so  did  the  ancient  Saiui -nian  poetry  Dccomc  the  quarry  in 
which  u  crowd  of  orators  ami  annalists  fouiul  the  materials  for 
their  prose. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  trace  the  process  by  which  the  old  songs 
were  transmuted  into  the  form  which  they  now  wear.  Funeral 
panegyric  and  chronicle  appear  to  have  been  the  intermediate 
links  which  connected  the  lost  ballads  with  the  histories  now  ex- 
tant. From  a  very  early  period  it  was  the  usage  that  an  oration 
should  be  pronounced  over  the  remains  of  a  noble  Roman.  The 
orator,  as  we  learn  from  .Poly bins,  was  expected,  on  such  am  oc- 
casion, to  recapitulate  all  the  services  which  the  ancestors  of  the 
deceased  had,  from  the  earliest  time,  rendered  to  the  common-' 
wealth.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  speaker  on  whom 
this  duty  was  imposed  would  make  use  of  all  the  stories  suited 
to  his  purpose  which  were  to  be  found  in  the  popular  lays. 
There  can  be  as  little  doubt  that  the  family  of  an  eminent  man 
would  preserve  a  copy  of  the  speech  which  had  been  pronounced 
over  his  corpse.  The  compilers  of  the  early  chronicles  would 
have  recourse  to  these  speeches;  and  the  great  historians  of  a  later 
period  would  have  recourse  to  the  chronicles. 

It  may  be  worth  while  to  select  a  particular  story,  and  to  trace 
its  probable  progress  through  these  stages.  The  description  of 
the  migration  of  the  Fabian  house  to  Cremera  is  one  of  the  finest 
of  the  many  fine  passages  which  lie  thick  in  the  earlier  books  of 
Livy.  The  Consul,  clad  in  his  military  garb,  stands  in  the  vesti- 
bule of  his  house,  marshaling  his  clan,  three  hundred  and  six 
fighting  men,  all  of  the  same  proud  patrician  blood,  all  worthy 
to  be  attended  by  the  fasces,  and  to  command  the  legions.  A 
sad  and  anxious  retinue  of  friends  accompanies  the  adventurers 
through  the  streets  ;  but  the  voice  of  lamentation  is  drowned  by 
the  shout?  of  admiring  thousands.  As  the  procession  passes  the 
Capitol,  prayers  and  vows  are  poured  forth,  but  in  vain.  The 
devoted  baud,  leaving  Janus  on  the  right,  marches  to  its  doom 
through  the  Gate  of  Evil  Luck.  After  achieving  high  deeds  of 
valor  against  overwhelming  numbers,  all  perish  save  one  child, 
the  stock  from  which  the  great  Fabian  crace  was  destined  again 
to  spring  for  the  safety  and  glory  of  the  commonwealth.  That 
this  fine  romance,  the  details  of  which  are  so  full  of  poetical 
truth,  and  so  utterly  destitute  of  all  show7  of  historical  truth,  came 
originally  from  some  lay  which  had  often  been  sung  with  great 


12  PREFACE. 

applause  at  banquets,  is  in  the  highest  degree  probable.  Nor  is 
it  difficult  to  imagine  a  mode  in  which  the  transmission  might 
have  taken  place. 

The  celebrated  Quintus  Fabius  Maximus,  who  died  about 
twenty  years  before  the  First  Punic  War,  and  more  than  forty 
years  before  Enuius  was  born,  is  said  to  have  been  interred  with 
extraordinary  pomp.  In  the  eulogy  pronounced  over  his  body 
all  the  great  exploits  of  his  ancestors  were  doubtless  recounted 
and  exaggerated.  If  there  were  then  extant  songs  which  gave  a 
vivid  and  touching  description  of  an  event,  the  saddest  and  the 
most  glorious  in  the  long  history  of  the  Fabian  house,  nothing 
could  be  more  natural  than  that  the  panegyrist  should  borrow 
from  such  songs  their  finest  touches,  in  order  to  adorn  his  speech. 
A  few  generations  later  the  songs  would  perhaps  be  forgotten,  or 
remembered  only  by  shepherds  and  vine-dressers.  But  the 
speech  would  certainly  be  preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  Fabian 
nobles.  Fabius  Pictor  would  be  well  acquainted  with  a  docu- 
ment so  interesting  to  his  personal  feelings,  and  would  insert 
large  extracts  from  it  in  his  rude  chronicle.  That  chronicle,  as 
we  know,  was  the  oldest  to  which  Livy  had  access.  Livy  would 
at  a  glance  distinguish  the  bold  strokes  of  the  forgotten  poet 
from  the  dull  and  feeble  narrative  by  which  they  were  sur- 
rounded, would  retouch  them  with  a  delicate  and  powerful  pen- 
cil, and  would  make  them  immortal. 

That  this  might  happen  at  Rome  can  scarcely  be  doubted;  for 
something  very  like  this  has  happened  in  several  countries,  and, 
among  others,  in  our  own.  Perhaps  the  theory  of  Perizonius 
cannot  be  better  illustrated  than  by  showing  that  what  he  sup- 
poses to  have  taken  place  in  ancient  times  has,  beyond  all  doubt, 
taken  place  in  modern  times. 

"History,"  says  Hume,  with  the  utmost  gravity,  "has  pre- 
served some  instances  of  Edgar's  amours,  from  which,  as  from  a 
specimen,  we  may  form  a  conjecture  of  the  rest."  He  then  tells 
very  agreeably  the  stories  of  Elfleda  and  Elfrida,  two  stories 
which  have  a  most  suspicious  air  of  romance,  and  which,  indeed, 
greatly  resemble,  in  their  general  character,  some  of  the  legends 
of  early  Rome.  He  cites,  as  his  authority  for  these  two  tales,  the 
chronicle  of  William  of  Malmesbury,  who  lived  in  the  time  of 
King  Stephen.  The  great  majority  of  readers  suppose  that  the 
device  by  which  Elfrida  was  substituted  for  her  young  mistress, 


PRKFACE.  13 

the  artifice  by  which  Athelwold  obtained  the  hand  of  Ell'rida,  the 
dcti-ction  of  thai  artifice,  tin-  hunting  party,  and  the  vengeance 
of  the  amorous  king,  are  things  alum!  which  there  is  no  more 
doubt  than  about  the  execution  of  Anne  Boleyn,  or  I  he  slitting  of 
Sir  John  Coventry's  nose.  But  when  we  turn  to  William  of 
Malmeshmy,  we  lind  that  Hume,  in  his  eagerness  to  relate  these 
pleasant  fables,  has  overlooked  one  very  important  circumstance. 
William  does  indeed  tell  both  the  stories;  but  he  gives  us  dis- 
tinct notice  that  he  does  not  warrant  their  truth,  and  that  they 
rest  on  no  better  authority  than  that  of  ballads. 

Such  is  the  way  in  which  these  two  well-known  tales  have  been 
handed  down.  They  originally  appeared  in  a  poetical  form. 
They  found  their  way  from  ballads  into  an  old  chronicle.  The 
ballads  perished;  the  chronicle  remained.  A  great  historian, 
some  centuries  after  the  ballads  had  been  altogether  forgotten, 
consulted  the  chronicle,  lie  was  struck  by  the  lively  coloring  of 
these  ancient  fictions:  he  transferred  them  to  his  pages;  and  thus 
we  lind  inserted,  as  unquestionable  facts,  in  a  narrative  which  is 
likely  to  last  as  long  as  the  English  tongue,  the  inventions  of 
some  minstrel  whose  works  we're  probably  never  committed  to 
writing,  whose  name  is  buried  in  oblivion,  and  whose  dialect  has 
become  obsolete.  It  must,  then,  be  admitted  to  be  possible,  or 
rather  highly  probable,  that  the  stories  of  Romulus  and  Remus, 
and  of  the  lloratii  and  Curiatii,  may  have  had  a  similar  origin. 

Castiliau  literature  will  furnish  us  with  another  parallel  case. 
Mariana,  the  classical  historian  of  Spain,  tells  the  story  of  the 
ill-starred  marriage  which  the  King  Don  Alouso  brought  about 
between  the  heirs  of  Carrion  and  the  two  daughters  of  the  Cid. 
The  Cid  bestowed  a  princely  dower  on  his  sons-in-law.  But  the 
young  men  were  base  and  proud,  cowardly  and  cruel.  They 
were  tried  in  danger,  and  found  wanting.  They  fled  before  the 
Moors,  and  once,  when  a  lion  broke  out  of  his  den,  they  ran  and 
crouched  in  an  unseemly  hiding-place.  They  knew  that  they 
were  despised,  and  took  counsel  how  they  might  be  avenged. 
They  parted  from  their  father-in-law  with  many  signs  of  love, 
and  set  forth  on  a  journey  with  Dona  Elvira  and  Dona  Sol.  In 
a  solitary  place  the  bridegrooms  seized  their  brides,  stripped 
them,  scourged  them,  and  departed,  leaving  them  for  dead. 
But  one  of  the  house  of  Bivar,  suspecting  foul  play,  had  followed 
the  travelers  in  disguise.  The  ladies  were  brought  back  safe  to 


14  PREFACE. 

the  house  of  their  father.  Complaint  was  made  to  the  king.  It 
was  adjudged  by  the  Cortes  that  the  dower  given  by  the  Cid 
should  be  returned,  and  that  the  heirs  of  Carrion  together  with 
one  of  their  kindred  should  do  battle  against  three  knights  of  the 
party  of  the  Cid.  The  guilty  youths  would  have  declined  the 
combat ;  but  all  their  shifts  were  vain.  They  were  vanquished 
in  the  lists,  and  forever  disgraced,  while  their  injured  wives 
were  sought  in  marriage  by  great  princes. 

Some  Spanish  writers  have  labored  to  show,  by  an  examination 
of  cases  and  circumstances,  that  this  story  is  untrue.  Such  con- 
futation was  surely  not  needed  ;  for  the  narrative  is  on  the  face 
of  it  a  romance.  How  it  found  its  way  into  Mariana's  history  is 
quite  clear.  He  acknowledges  his  obligations  to  the  ancient 
chronicles  ;  and  had  doubtless  before  him  the  "  Cronica  del  fa- 
moso  Cavallero  Cid  Ruy  Diez  Campeador,"  which|had  been  printed 
as  early  as  the  year  1552.  He  little  suspected  that  all  the  most 
striking  passages  in  this  chronicle  were  copied  from  a  poem  of 
the  twelfth  century,  a  poem  of  which  the  language  and  versifica- 
tion had  long  been  obsolete,  but  which  glowed  with  no  common 
portion  of  the  fire  of  the  Iliad.  Yet  such  was  the  fact.  More 
than  a  century  and  a  half  after  the  death  of  Mariana,  this  ven- 
erable ballad,  of  which  one  imperfect  copy  on  parchment,  four 
hundred  years  old,  had  been  preserved  at  Bivar,  was  for  the  first 
time  printed.  Then  it  was  found  that  every  interesting  circum- 
stance of  the  story  of  the  heirs  of  Carrion  was  derived  by  the  elo- 
quent Jesuit  from  a  song  of  which  he  had  never  heard,  and 
which  was  composed  by  a  minstrel  whose  very  name  had  long 
been  forgotten. 

Such,  or  nearly  such,  appears  to  have  been  the  process  by 
which  the  lost  ballad-poetry  of  Rome  was  transformed  into  his- 
tory. To  reverse  that  process,  to  transform  some  portions  of 
early  Roman  history  back  into  the  poetry  out  of  which  they  were 
made,  is  the  object  of  this  work. 

In  the  following  poems  the  author  speaks,  not  in  his  own  per- 
son, but  in  the  persons  of  ancient  minstrels  who  know  only  what 
a  Roman  citizen,  born  three  or  four  hundred  years  before  the 
Christian  era,  may  be  supposed  to  have  known,  and  who  are  in 
nowise  above  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  their  age  and  na- 
tion. To  these  imaginary  poets  must  be  ascribed  some  blunders 
which  are  so  obvious  that  it  is  unnecessary  to  point  them  out. 


PREFACE.  15 

The  real  blunder  would  have  been  to  represent  these  old  poets  as 
deeply  versed  in  general  history,  and  studious  of  chronological 
accuracy-  To  them  inusi  also  be  attributed  the  illiberal  sneers 
at  the  Greeks,  the  furious  party -spirit,  the  contempt  for  the  arts 
of  peace,  the  love  of  war  for  its  own  sake,  the  ungenerous  exul- 
tation over  the  vanquished,  which  the  reader  will  sometimes  ob- 
serve. To  portray  a  Roman  of  the  age  of  Camillus  or  Curius  as 
superior  to  national  antipathies,  as  mourning  over  the  devastation 
and  slaughter  by  which  empire  ami  triumphs  were  to  be  won,  as 
looking  on  human  suJTering  with  the  sympathy  of  Howard,  or  as 
treating  conquered  enemies  with  the  delicacy  of  the  Black  Prince, 
would  be  to  violate  all  dramatic  propriety.  The  old  Romans  had 
some  great,  virtues, — fortitude,  temperance,  veracity,  spirit  to  re- 
sist oppression,  respect  for  legitimate  authority,  fidelity  in  the 
observing  qf  contracts,  disinterestedness,  ardent  patriotism, — but 
Christian  charity  and  chivalrous  generosity  were  alike  unknown 
to  them. 

It  would  have  been  obviously  improper  to  mimic  the  manner 
of  any  particular  age  or  country.  Something  has  been  borrowed, 
however,  from  our  own  old  ballads,  and  more  from  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  the  great  restorer  of  our  ballad  poetry.  To  the  Iliad  still 
greater  obligations  are  due ;  and  those  obligations  have  been 
contracted  with  the  less  hesitation,  because  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve that  some  of  the  old  Latin  minstrels  really  had  recourse  to 
that  inexhaustible  store  of  poetical  images. 

It  would  have  been  easy  to  swell  this  little  volume  to  a  very 
considerable  bulk,  by  appending  notes  filled  with  quotations ; 
but  to  a  learned  reader  such  notes  are  not  necessary  ;  for  an  un- 
learned reader  they  would  have  little  interest  ;  and  the  judg- 
ment passed  both  by  the  learned  and  the  unlearned  on  a  work  of 
the  imagination  will  always  depend  much  more  on  the  general 
character  and  spirit  of  such  a  work  than  on  minute  details. 


It  may  be  desirable  to  state  that  the  Preface  and  the  Intro- 
ductions to  the  Lays  are  of  the  author's  own,  writing. 


HORATIUS. 

THERE  can  be  little  doubt  that  among  those  parts  of  early 
Roman  history  which  had  a  poetical  origin  was  the  legend  of 
Horatius  Codes.  We  have  several  versions  of  the  story,  and 
these  versions  differ  from  each  other  in  points  of  no  small  im- 
portance. Polybius,  there  is  reason  to  believe,  heard  the  tale 
recited  over  the  remains  of  some  Consul  or  Praetor  descended 
from  the  old  Horatian  patricians  ;  for  he  introduces  it  as  a 
specimen  of  the  narratives  with  which  the  Romans  were  in  the 
habit  of  embellishing  their  funeral  oratory.  It  is  remarkable 
that,  according  to  him,  Horatius  defended  the  bridge  alone,  10 
and  perished  in  the  waters.  According  to  the  chronicles  which 
Livy  and  Dionysius  followed,  Horatius  had  two  companions, 
swam  safe  to  shore,  and  was  loaded  with  honors  and  rewards. 

These  discrepancies  are  easily  explained.  Our  own  litera- 
ture, indeed,  will  furnish  an  exact  parallel  to  what  may  have 
taken  place  at  Rome.  It  is  highly  probable  that  the  memory 
of  the  war  of  Porsena  was  preserved  by  compositions  much 
resembling  the  two  ballads  which  stand  first  in  the  Relics  of 

3.  Horatius  Codes.     Literally  Horatius  the  One-eyed. 

5.  Polybius.     A  celebrated  Arcadian  historian  (B.C.  204-122). 

6.  Consul  or  Praetor.    The  Cousuls,  of  whoin.there  were  two  at  a  time, 
were  the  highest  republican  magistrates  at  Rome.     The  office  was  established 
immediately  after  the  abolition  of  royalty,  509  .B.C.    The  Prsetor  originally 
(B.C.  366)  was  equivalent  to  a  Third  Consul.     He  sometimes  commanded  the 
armies:  and  when  the  Consuls  were  absent  with  the  armies,  he  exercised  their 
powers  within  the  city. 

7.  Patricians.    The  ruling  class  in  Roman  society,  in  contradistinction 
to  the  "plebeians,"'  or  common  people.    They  exercised  exclusive  political 
power  and  enjoyed  all  the  honors. 

12.  Livy.  A  Roman  historian  (B.C.  59-A.o  17).  His  literary  talents  secured 
the  patronage  and  friendship  of  the  Emperor  Augustus. 

Dionysius.  A  celebrated  rhetorician  and.  historian,  who  about  B.C.  29 
went  from  Halicarnassus  to  Rome  where  he  lived  until  his  death,  B.C.  7. 

17 


18  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   ROME. 

Ancient  English  Poetry.  In  both  those  ballads  the  English, 
20  commanded  by  the  Percy,  fight  with  the  Scots,  commanded  by 
the  Douglas.  In  one  of  the  ballads  the  Douglas  is  killed  by  a 
nameless  English  archer,  and  the  Percy  by  a  Scottish  spear- 
man :  in  the  other,  the  Percy  slays  the  Douglas  in  single  com- 
bat, and  is  himself  made  prisoner.  In  the  former,  Sir  Hugh 
Montgomery  is  shot  through  the  heart  by  a  Northumbrian 
bowman :  in  the  latter  he  is  taken,  and  exchanged  for  the 
Percy.  Yet  both  the  ballads  relate  to  the  same  event,  and 
that  an  event  which  probably  took  place  within  the  memory 
of  persons  who  were  alive  when  both  the  ballads  were  made. 
30  One  of  the  minstrels  says  : 

"  Old  men  that  knowen  the  grounde  well  yenoughe 
Call  it  the  battell  of  Otterburn: 
At  Otterburn  began  this  spume 
Upon  a  monnyn  day. 
Ther  was  the  dougghte  Doglas  slean: 
The  Perse  never  went  away." 

The  other  poet  sums  up  the  event  in  the  following  lines: 

"  Thys  fraye  bygan  at  Otterborne 
Bytwene  the  nyghte  and  the  day: 
40  Ther  the  Dowglas  lost  hys  lyfe, 

And  the  Percy  was  lede  away." 

It  is  by  no  means  unlikely  that  there  were  two  old  Koman 
lays  about  the  defense  of  the  bridge ;  and  that,  while  the  story 
which  Livy  has  transmitted  to  us  was  preferred  by  the  multi- 
tude, the  other,  which  ascribed  the  whole  glory  to  Horatius 
alone,  may  have  been  the  favorite  with  the  Horatian  house. 

The  following  ballad  is  supposed  to  have  been  made  about  a 

hundred  and  twenty  years  after  the  war  which  it  celebrates, 

and  just  before  the  taking  of  Rome  by  the  Gauls.     The  author 

5o  seems  to  have  been  an  honest  citizen,  proud  of  the  military 

20.  Percy.  Harry  Percy.  Surnamed  Hotspur  on  account  of  his  fiery  tem- 
per acquired  great  fame  on  account  of  his  exploits  in  a  skirmish  with  the 
Scots  at  Otterbourne  (1388).  It  was  on  this  battle  that  the  ballad  of  kt  Chevy 
Chase"  was  based.  The  Percys  aided  Henry  IV.  in  his  efforts  to  obtain 
possession  of  his  kingdom,  but  afterward,  quarreling  with  him,  they  joined 
their  forces  to  those  of  the  Scots  under  the  Earl  of  Douglas  and  to  the  Welsh 
under  Owen  Glendower  for  the  purpose  of  placing  Mortimer  on  the  throne. 
A  terrific  battle  was  fought  at  Shrewsbury  (1403),  but  the  rebels|were  defeated 
and  Percy  slain. 


IIORATIUS.  19 

glory  of  his  country,  sick  of  the  disputes  of  factions,  and  much 
given  to  pining  after  good  old  times  which  had  never  really 
existed.  The  allusion,  however,  to  the  partial  manner  in 
which  the  public  lands  were  allotted  could  proceed  only  from 
a  plebeian;  and  the  allusion  to  the  fraudulent  sale  of  spoils 
marks  the  date  of  the  poem,  and  shows  that  the  poet  shared  in 
the  general  discontent  with  which  the  proceedings  of  Camillus, 
after  the  taking  of  Veii,  were  regarded. 

The  penultimate  sy liable  of  the  name  Porsena  has  been  short- 
ened in  spiteof  the  authority  of  Niebuhr,  who  pronounces,  with-  60 
out  assigning  any  ground  for  his  opinion,  that  Martial  was 
guilty  of  a  decided  blunder  in  the  line, 

"  Hanc  spectare  manum  Porsena  non  potuit." 

It  is  not  easy  to  understand  how  any  modern  scholar,  what- 
ever his  attainments  may  be, — and  those  of  Niebuhr.  were 
undoubtedly  immense, — can  venture  to  pronounce  that  Martial 
did  not  know  the  quantity  of  a  word  which  he  must  have  ut- 
tered and  heard  uttered  a  hundred  times  before  he  left  school. 
Niebuhr  seems  also  to  have  forgotten  that  Martial  has  fellow- 
culprits  to  keep  him  in  countenance.  Horace  has  committed  ^ 
the  same  decided  blunder  ;  for  he  gives  us,  as  a  pure  iambic 
line, 

"  Minacis  aut  Etrusca  Porsenae  manus." 

Silius  Italicus  has  repeatedly  offended  in  the  same  way,  as 
when  he  says, 

"  Cernitureffugiensardentem  Porsena  dextram:" 
and  again, 

"  Clusinum  vulgus,  cum,  Porsena  magne,  jubebas." 

A  modern  writer  may  be  content  to  err  in  such  company. 

Niebuhr's  supposition  that  each  of  the  three  defenders  of  ^ 
the  bridge  was  the  representative  of  one  of  the  three  patrician 
tribes  is  both  ingenious  and  probable,  and  has  been  adopted  in 
the  following  poem. 

55.  Plebeian.    See  note  7. 

61.  Martial.     A  poet;  born  in  Spain  A.D.  43,  came  to  Rome  about  A.D  66. 
74    Silius  Italicus    (A.D.  25-100).   A  Roman  poet.,  and  Consul  in  68,  the 
year  in  which  Nero  perished. 


Horatius. 

A  LAY  MADE  ABOUT  THE  YEAR   OF  THE   CITY  CCCLX. 

LARS  PORSENA  of  Clusium 

By  the  Nine  Gods  he  swore    . 
That  the  great  house  of  Tarquin 

Should  suffer  wrong  no  more. 
By  the  Nine  Gods  he  swore  it, 

And  named  a  trysting  day, 
And  bade  his  messengers  ride  forth, 
East  and  west  and  south  and  north, 

To  summon  his  array. 

ii. 

East  and  west  and  south  and  north 

The  messengers  ride  fast, 
And  tower  and  town  and  cottage 

Have  heard  the  trumpet's  blast. 
Shame  on  the  false  Etruscan 

Who  lingers  in  his  home, 
When  Porsena  of  Clusium 

Is  on  the  march  for  Rome. 

84.  Liars    Porsena    of    Clusium.— Lars   was    an    Etruscan    title,   an- 
swering to  our  lord  or  chief.     It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  warn  the  reader 
that  the  likeness  of  sound  with  the  English  lord  is  wholly  accidental. 

85.  By  the   Nine   Gods  lie   swore.— These   gods   were  called  by  the 
Romans  the  Dii  Novensiles,  and  were  supposed  by  them  to  be  the  nine  great 
Etruscan  gods,  who  had  the  privilege  of  hurling  thunderbolts.     As  it  lias 
not  been  found  possible  to  make  a  list  of  so  many  as  nine  thundering  deities, 
we  may  conclude  that  the  Romans  were  led  astray  by  the  resemhlance  of 
sound  with  their  numeral  novem,  nine,   the  \vord  denoting   simply  the 
"  heavenly  lighteners."    Taylor.  Etruscan  Researches 

86.  The   Great   House  of  Tarquin.— Tarquin  Priscus  (the  Elder)  and 
Tarquin  Superbus  (the  Proud),  respectively  the  fifth  and  seventh  Kings  of 
Rome. 

89.  And  named  a  trysting  day.— Trysting  day,  a  day  of  meeting 
according  to  previous  agreement,  or  trust. 

99.  When  Porsena  of  Clusium.— The  Etruscans  wrote  the  name 
Porsenna;  but  the  Latin  poets  sometimes  abbreviated  the  second  syllable. 

20 


HORATIU8.  21 

III. 

The  horsemen  and  the  footmen 

Are  pouring  in  amain 
From  many  a  stately  market-place ; 

From  many  a  fruitful  plain  ; 
From  many  a  lonely  hamlet. 

Which,  hid  by  beech  and  pine, 
Like  an  eagle's  nest,  hangs  on  the  crest 

Of  purple  Apcnnine ; 

IV. 

From  lordly  Volaterns, 

Where  scowls  the  far-famed  hold  IK> 

Piled  by  the  hands  of  giants 

For  godlike  kings  of  old  ; 
From  seagirt  Populouia, 

Whose  sentinels  descry 
Sardinia's  snowy  mountain-tops 

Fringing  the  southern  sky; 

v. 
From  the  proud  mart  of  Piste, 

Queen  of  the  western  waves, 
Where  ride  Massilia's  triremes 

Heavy  with  fair-haired  slaves ;  J2o 

From  where  sweet  Clanis  wanders 


108.  A  pen  nine.— The  mountain  range  running  north  and  south  through 
Italy. 

109.  Volaterrae.— One  of  the  twelve  cities  of  the  Etruscan  Confederation, 
and  one  of  the  five  cities  that,  acting  independently  of  the  rest  of  Etruria, 
aided  the  Latins  against  Tarquinius  Priscus     It  was  built  on  a  lofty  hill 
eighteen  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and  so  strongly  fortified 
that  not  until  after  a  siege  of  two  years  was  it  captured  by  Sulla  in  his  war 
with  Mar i us. 

110.  Where     scowls    the    far-famed     hold. — The    situation    of    the 
Etruscan  towns  is  one  of  the  most  striking  characteristics  of  Tuscan  scenery. 
Many  of  them  occupy  surf  aces  of  tableland  surrounded  by  a  series  of  gulliea 
not  visible  from  a  distance.    The  traveler  may  be  thus  a  whole  day  reach- 
ing a  place  which  in  Die  morning  may  have  seemed  to  him  but  a  little  way 
off.     Dennis.  Cities  ami  Cemeteries  of  Etruria. 

113.  Populoiiia. — The  principal  sea-port  of  Etrnria. 
117.  Piste.—  An  ancient  and  important  town  of  Etruria. 

119.  MasMilia.— Now  Marseilles. 

120.  Heavy    with    fair-haired    slaves.— Massilia,    the    modern    Mar- 
seilles, was  a  Greek  colony  from  Phocaea  (Phokaia)  in  Asia  Minor     Among 
the  articles  of  merchandise  conveyed  by  their  ships  to  Italian  shores  would 
be  slaves  obtained  from  the  interior  of  Gaul. 


LAYS   OP  ANCIENT  EOME. 

Through  corn  and  vines  and  flowers  ; 
From  where  Cortona  lifts  to  heaven 
Her  diadem  of  towers. 

VI. 

Tall  are  the  oaks  whose  acorns 

Drop  in  dark  Auser's  rill  ; 
Fat  are  the  stags  that  champ  the  boughs 

Of  the  Ciminian  hill  ; 
Beyond  all  streams  Clitumnus 

Is  to  the  herdsman  dear  ; 
Best  of  all  pools  the  fowler  loves 

The  great  Volsinian  mere. 

VII. 

But  now  no  stroke  of  woodman 

Is  heard  by  Auser's  rill  ; 
No  hunter  tracks  the  stag's  green  path 

Up  the  Cimiuian  hill  ; 
Unwatched  along  Clitumnus 

Grazes  the  milk-white  steer  ; 
Unharmed  the  water  fowl  may  dip 

In  the  Volsinian  mere.  . 

VIII. 

The  harvests  of  Arretium, 

This  year,  old  men  shall  reap, 
This  year,  young  boys  in  Umbro 

Shall  plunge  the  struggling  sheep  ; 
And  in  the  vats  of  Luna, 

This  year,  the  must  shall  foam 
Round  the  white  feet  of  laughing  girls 

Whose  sires  have  marched  to  Rome. 


123.  Cortona.—  One  of  the  twelve  cities  of  Etruria.  Founded  by  the  Um- 
brians,  it  was  captured  by  the  Pelasgians,  and  afterwards  fell  into  the  hands 
of  the  Etruscans.  The  remains  of  the  Pelasgic  walls  are  some  of  the  most 
remarkable  in  all  Italy.  A  fragment  still  remaining  shows  it  to  have  been 
made  of  blocks  of  enormous  size. 

132.  The  great  Volsinian  mere.—  Mere,  literally,  that  which  is 
dead  ;  hence  a  sheet  of  stagnant  water,  as  on  swampy  and  fen  lands. 

141.  Arretium.  —  Noted  for  its  wine  and  corn. 

145.  Vats  of  Luna.—  Luna  was  celebrated  for  its  wines. 

146.  Must.—  Unfermented  grape  juice. 

147.  Round  the  white  feet,  etc.—  An  allusion  to  the  method  of  tread- 
ing the  grapes. 


HORATIUS. 


There  be  thirty  chosen  prophets, 

The  wisest  of  the  land,  150 

Who  alway  by  Lars  Porscna 

Both  morii  and  evening  stand: 
Evening  and  morn  the  Thirty 

Have  turned  the  verses  o'er, 
Traced  from  the  right  on  linen  white 

By  mighty  seers  of  yore. 

x. 

And  with  one  voice  the  Thirty 

Have  their  glad  answer  given  : 
"Go  forth,  go  forth,  Lars  Porsena; 

Go  forth,  beloved  of  Heaven  ;  l6o 

Go,  and  return  in  glory 

To  Clusium's  royal  dome  ; 
And  hang  round  Nurscia's  altars 

The  golden  shields  of  Rome." 

XI. 

And  now  hath  every  city  f 

Sent  up  her  tale  of  men  ; 
The  foot  are  fourscore  thousand, 

The  horse  are  thousands  ten  : 
Before  the  gates  of  Sutrium 

Is  met  the  great  array.  I7o 

A  proud  man  was  Lars  Porsena 

Upon  the  try  sting  day. 


149.  There  be  thirty  chosen  prophets. — The  Etruscan  religion 
was  a  system  of  "  Shamanism ;"  in  other  words,  it  sought  to  ascertain  the 
will  of  the  gods  by  the  interpretation  of  outward  signs,  which  might  be 
furnished  by  the  flight  of  birds,  the  direction  of  lightning,  the  entrails  of 
victims,  or  in  other  ways.  This  system  the  Romans  adopted  from  the 
Etruscans.  Their  seers  were,  therefore,  strictly  not  prophets,  but  sorcerers. 
Taylor.  Etruscan  Researches. 

loo.  Traced  from  the  ri^ht  on  linen  white.— The  Etruscan  writ- 
ing was  from  right  to  left.  Writings  on  linen  were  called  by  the  Komans 
libn  linlei. 

16'2.  Royal  Dome.— The  royal  residence  of  Porsena  was  at  Clusium. 

Ittf.  Hang  round  Nurscia's  altars.— Reference  to  the  custom  of  de- 
positing the  arms  of  the  vanquished  in  the  temple. 

166.  Tale. — Literally  count ;  quota. 

172.  Trysting  dayi— Appointed  day. 


#4  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   ROME. 

xn. 

For  all  the  Etruscan  armies 

Were  ranged  beneath  his  eye, 
And  many  a  banished  Roman, 

And  many  a  stout  ally; 
And  with  a  mighty  following 

To  join  the  muster  came 
The  Tusculan  Mamilius, 
180  Prince  of  the  Latin  name. 

XIII. 

But  by  the  yellow  Tiber 

Was  tumult  and  affright : 
From  all  the  spacious  champaign 

To  Rome  men  took  their  night. 
A  mile  around  the  city, 

The  throng  stopped  up  the  ways  ; 
A  fearful  sight  it  was  to  see 

Through  two  long  nights  and  days. 

XIV. 

For  aged  folks  on  crutches, 

190  And  women  great  with  child, 

And  mothers  sobbing  over  babes 

That  clung  to  them  and  smiled. 
And  sick  men  borne  in  litters 

High  on  the  necks  of  slaves, 
And  troops  of  sun-burned  husbandmen 

With  reaping-hooks  and  staves, 

xv. 

And  droves  of  mules  and  asses 

Laden  with  skins  of  wine, 
And  endless  flocks  of  goats  and  sheep, 
200  And  endless  herds  of  kine, 

And  endless  trains  of  wagons 

179.  M ainilius.  It  was  to  Octavius  Mamilius  that  Tarquin  betrothed  his 
daughter. 

183.  From  all  the  spacious  champaign.— Champaign,  plain,  open 
country,  as  the  Campagna  of  Rome;  from  the  same  root  with  the  Latin 
camptts,  a  plain. 


HORATIU8.  26 

That  creaked  beneath  the  weight 
Of  corn-sticks  anil  of  household  goods, 
Choked  every  roaring  gate. 

XVI. 

Now,  from  the  rock  Tarpeian, 

Could  tin- wan  burghers  spy 
The  line  of  bla/ing  villages 

Red  in  the  midnight  sky. 
The  Fathers  of  the  City, 

They  sat  all  night  and  day, 
For  every  hour  sonic  horseman  came 

With  tidings  of  dismay. 

XVII. 

To  eastward  and  to  westward 

Have  spread  the  Tuscan  bands. 
Nor  house,  nor  fence,  nor  dovecote 

In  Crusluuieriuin  stands. 
Verbenna  down  to  Ostia 

Hath  wasted  all  the  plain  ; 
Astur  hath  stormed  Janiculum, 

And  the  stout  guards  are  slain. 

XVIII. 

I  wis,  in  all  the  Senate, 

There  was  no  heart  so  bold, 
But  sore  it  ached  and  fast  it  beat, 

When  that  ill  news  was  told. 


20o.  Rock  Ta«-peiaii.— So  called  from  Tarpeia,  the  daughter  of  the  gov- 
ernor of  the  Roman  citadel  on  the  Saturuian.  afterwards  Capitoline,  Hill. 
Tempted  by  the  gold  on  the  Sabine  bracelets  and  collars,  she  opened  the  gate 
of  the  fortress  to  T.  Tatius  and  the  Supines.  As  they  entered,  they  threw 
their  shields  upon  her  and  crushed  her  to  death. 

^'09.  Th«  Fathers  of  the  City.— This  name  here  denotes  the  Roman 
Senate,  which,  according  to  the  tradition,  consisted,  in  the  time  of  the  kings, 
of  300  members. 

217.  Verbemia  down  to  Ostia — Ostia,  the  port  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Tiber. 

219.  Astur  hath  stormed  Jaiiiciiliiin. — The  Janiculan  hill  lies  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  Tiber,  precisely  opposite  to  the  Palatine  hill  on  the  left 
bank. 

2-J1.  I  wis,  in  all  the  Senate.— T  wis,  adv.  'certainly.'  From  the 
same  root  we  have  the  old  English  ivitaii  iu  Witenagemot,  "  the  assembly  of 
the  wise." 


26  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   HOME. 

Forthwith  up  rose  the  Consul, 

Up  rose  the  Fathers  all ; 
In  haste  they  girded  up  their  gowns, 

And  hied  them  to  the  wall. 

XIX. 

They  held  a  council  standing 
o  Before  the  River- Gate  ; 

Short  time  was  there,  ye  well  may  guess, 

For  musing  or  debate. 
Out  spake  the  Consul  roundly  : 

"  The  bridge  must  straight  go  down  ; 
For,  since  Janiculum  is  lost, 

Nought  else  can  save  the  town." 

xx. 

Just  then  a  scout  came  flying, 

All  wild  with  haste  and  fear ; 
"  To  arms  !  to  arms  !  Sir  Consul : 
,  Lars  Porsena  is  here." 

On  the  low  hills  to  westward 

The  Consul  fixed  his  eye, 
And  saw  the  swarthy  storm  of  dust 

Rise  fast  along  the  sky. 

XXI 

And  nearer  fast  and  nearer 

Doth  the  red  whirlwind  come  ; 
And  louder  still  and  still  more  loud, 
From  underneath  that  rolling  cloud, 
Is  heard  the  trumpet's  war-note  proud, 
,  The  trampling,  and  the  hum. 

And  plainly  and  more  plainly 

Now  through  the  gloom  appears, 
Far  to  left  and  far  to  right, 
In  broken  gleams  of  dark-blue  light, 

225.  Forthwith  up  rose  the  Consul — After  the  expulsion  of  the 
kings,  the  Roman  patricians  intrusted  their  political  powers  to  two 
magistrates,  chosen  annually  from  the  ruling  class,  and  called  Consuls  or 
Colleagues. 


HORATIUS.  27 

The  long  array  of  hrlniris  bright, 
The  long  array  of  spears. 

.\  \  1 1 . 

And  plainly  and  more  plainly, 

Above  that  glimmering  line, 
Now  might  ye  see  the  banners 

Of  twelve  fair  cities  shine  ;  ,Y  _ 

But  the  banner  of  proud  Clusium 

Was  highest  of  them  all, 
The  terror  of  the  Umbrian, 

The  terror  of  the  Gaul. 

• 

XXIII. 

And  plainly  and  more  plainly 

Now  inightthe  burghers  know, 
By  port  and  vest,  by  horse  and  crest, 

Each  warlike  Lucuino. 
There  Ciluius  of  Arretium 

On  his  fleet  roan  was  seen  ; 
And  Astur  of  the  four-fold  shield, 
Girt  with  the  brand  none  else  may  wield, 
Tolumuius  witli  the  belt  of  gold, 
Aiid  dark  Verbenua  from  the  hold 

By  reedy  Thrasymene. 

XXIV. 

Fast  by  the  royal  standard, 

O'erlookiug  all  the  war, 
Lars  Porsena  of  Clusium 

Sat  in  his  ivory  car. 
By  the  right  wheel  rode  Mamilius, 

Prince  of  the  Latian  name  ; 


268.  Each  warlike  Lucumo.— By  this  name  the  Latin  writers 
designated  the  Etruscan  chiefs.  Each  of  the  twelve  cities  forming  the 
Etruscan  confederacy  had  its  own  Lucumo. 

275.  By  reedy  Thrasymene.— The  shores  of  this  lake  witnessed  the 
destruction  of  the  Roman  legions  under  Flaminius  by  the  Carthaginians 
under  Hannibal,  iu  the  second  Punic  war.  />  )  ^ 


28  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   ROME. 

And  by  the  left  false  Sextus, 
That  wrought  the  deed  of  shame. 

XXV. 

But  when  the  face  of  Sextus 

Was  seen  among  the  foes, 
A  yell  that  rent  the  firmament 

•From  all  the  town  arose. 
On  the  house-tops  was  no  woman 

But  spat  towards  him  and  hissed, 
No  child  but  screamed  out  curses, 

And  shook  its  little  fist. 

XXVI. 

But  the  Consul's  brow  was  sad, 

And  the  Consul's  speech  was  low, 
And  darkly  looked  he  at  the  wall, 

And  darkly  at  the  foe. 
"  Their  van  will  be  upon  us 

Before  the  bridge  goes  down  ; 
And  if  they  once  may  win  the  bridge, 

What  hope  to  save  the  town  V" 

XXVII. 

Then  out  spake  brave  Horatius, 

The  Captain  of  the  Gate  : 
"  To  every  man  upon  this  earth 

Death  cometh  soon  or  late. 
And  how  can  man  die  better 

Than  facing  fearful  odds, 
For  the  ashes  of  his  fathers, 

And  the  temples  of  his  Gods, 

XXVIII. 

"And  for  the  tender  mother 
Who  dandled  him  to  rest, 

282.  False  Sextus.    See  note  xn,  Battle  of  Lake  Regillus. 

283.  That  wrought  the  deed   of  shame. — The  tale  of    his  wicked- 
ness, which  caused,  it  is  said,  the  death  of  Lucretia  and  the  downfall  of  the 
kingly  power  in  Borne,  is  referred  to  in  the  Lay  on  "  The  Battle  of  the  Lake 
Regillus." 


lloRATIUS.  29 

And  for  the  wife  who  nurses 

His  baby  ;it  her  brea-l. 
And  for  the  holy  maid. 

Who  feed  the  eternal  Hume, 
To  save  them  from  false  Scxtus 

That  wrought  the  deed  of  shame  't 

XXIX 

"Hew  down  the  bridge,  Sir  Consul, 

With  all  the  speed  ye  may  ; 
I,  with  two  more  to  help  me, 

Will  hold  the  foe  in  play.  &o 

In  yon  strait  path  a  thousand 

May  well  be  stopped  by  three. 
Now  who  will  stand  on  either  hand, 

And  keep  the  bridge  with  me?" 

XXX. 

Then  out  spake  Spurius  Lartius  ; 

A  Ramnian  proud  was  he  : 
"  Lo,  I  will  stand  at  thy  right  hand, 

And  keep  the  bridge  with  thee." 
And  out  spake  strong  Herminius  ; 

Of  Titian  blood  was  he  :  330 

"I  will  abide  on  thy  left  side, 

And  keep  the  bridge  with  thee." 

XXXI. 

"Horatius/'quoth  the  Consul, 

"  As  thou  sayest,  so  let  it  be." 
And  straight  against  that  great  array 

Forth  went  the  dauntless  Three. 
For  Romans  in  Rome's  quarrel 

Spared  neither  land  nor  gold, 

313.  And  for  the  holy  maidens.— The  Vestal  Virgins,  who  were 
bound  to  a  life  of  celibacy  during  the  term  of  their  service  as  guardians  of 
the  sacred  fire  of  Vesta  on  the  common  hearth  of  the  city,  The  breach  of 
their  vow  was  punishable  by  death. 

326  A  Ramnian  proud  was  he.— The  patricians,  or  ruling  order 
in  Rome,  were  divided,  it  is  said,  into  three  tribes,  the  Ramnes,  Tities,  and, 
Luceres:  but  of  the  origin  of  these  names  little  is  known, 


30  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   ROME. 

Nor  son  nor  wife,  nor  limb  nor  life, 
340  In  the  brave  days  of  old. 

XXXII. 

Then  none  was  for  a  party  ; 

Then  all  were  for  the  state  ; 
Then  the  great  man  helped  the  poor, 

And  the  poor  man  loved  the  great : 
Then  lands  were  fairly  portioned  ; 

Then  spoils  were  fairly  sold  : 
The  Romans  were  like  brothers 

In  the  brave  days  of  old. 

XXXIII. 

Now  Roman  is  to  Roman 
350  More  hateful  than  a  foe, 

And  the  Tribunes  beard  the  high, 

And  the  Fathers  grind  the  low. 
As  we  wax  hot  in  faction, 

In  battle  we  wax  cold : 
Wherefore  men  fight  not  as  they  fought 

In  the  brave  days  of  old. 

xxxiv. 
Now  while  the  Three  were  tightening 

Their  harness  on  their  backs, 
The  Consul  was  the  foremost  man 
36o  To  take  in  hand  an  ax  : 

And  Fathers  mixed  with  Commons 
Seized  hatchet,  bar,  and  crow, 

351.  And  the  Tribunes  beard  the  high.— The  tribunes  were  offi- 
cers representing  the  tribes  of  the  Plebs  or  Commons,  and  existed  probably 
from  the  first  formation  of  that  body.  After  the  revolt  of  the  Plebs,  which 
followed  soon  after  the  expulsion  of  the  kings,  these  magistrates  were 
recognized  by  the  Patricians,  were  declared  inviolable  in  their  persons,  and 
were  invested  with  the  absolute  power  of  vetoing  any  measure  of  which 
they  disapproved. 

361.  And  Fathers  mixed  with  Commons. — The  Roman  govern- 
•  ment  was  at  first  wholly  in  the  hands  of  the  Patricians  or  Patres  (fathers), 
a  word  which  denoted  originally  nothing  but  despotic  power.  Under  these 
the  Commons,  called  Plebs,  gradually  secured  to  themselves,  first  personal 
freedom,  ftiuj  |»  course  of  tjme,  after  hard  struggles,  a  share  of  political 
power. 


BORATTU& 

Aii'l    -mole  upon  Hie  plank^  above, 
Anil  loosed  tin-  pinp.s  In-low. 


\\xv. 

Meanwhile  the  Tuscan  army, 

Right  glorious  t<»  behold. 
Came  Hashing  hack  the  noonday  light, 
Rank  lu-liinil  rank,  like  surges  l.righl 

Of  a  broad  sea  of  gold. 
Four  hundred  trumpets  soundi  d  170 

A  peal  of  warlike  glee, 
As  that  great  liost,  with  measured  tread, 
And  -spears  advanced,  and  ensigns  spieai! 
Rolled  slowly  towards  the  hridi^e's  head, 

Whore  stood  the  dauntless  Three. 

\\xvi. 
The  Three  stood  calm  and  silent, 

And  looked  upon  the  foes, 
And  a  great  shout  of  laughter 

From  all  the  vanguard  rose  : 
And  forth  three  chiefs  came  spurring  38o 

lie  fore  that  deep  array  ; 

To  earth  they  sprang,  their  swords  they  drew, 
And  lifted  high  their  shields,  and  flew 

To  win  the  narrow  way  ; 

XXXVII. 

Auuus  from  green  Tifernum, 

Lord  of  the  Hill  of  Vines  ; 
And  Seius,  whose  eight  hundred  slaves 

Sicken  in  Ilva's  mines  ; 
And  Picus,  long  to  Clusium 

Vassal  in  peace  and  war,  3QO 

364.  And  loosed  the  props  below.  —  The  bridge  by  which  Janiculus 
was  connected  with  Rome  was  built  of  wood  supported  by  props  (sublicce), 
and  hf  nee  called  Puns  Sublicius. 

i  ferntim.    A  town  near  the  head  of  the  Tiber. 

388.  Sicken  in  Ilva's  mines.—  Ilva  is  the  modern  Elba,  the  island  in 
which  Napoleon  Bonaparte  held  his  little  court  before  the  Hundred  Days. 
It  was  well  known  for  its  iron  mines. 


32  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT    ROME. 

Who  led  to  fight  his  Umbriau  powers 
From  that  gray  crag  where,  girt  with  towers, 
The  fortress  of  Nequinum  lowers 
O'er  the  pale  waves  of  Kar. 

XXXVIII. 

Stout  Lartius  hurled  down  Aunus 

Into  the  stream  beneath  : 
Hermiuius  struck  at  Seius, 

And  clove  him  to  the  teeth  : 
At  Picus  brave  Horatius 

Darted  one  fiery  thrust ; 
And  the  proud  Umbrian's  gilded  arms 

Clashed  in  the  bloody  dust. 

XXXIX. 

Then  Ocnus  of  Falerii 

Rushed  on  the  Roman  Three  ; 
And  Lausulus  of  Urgo, 

The  rover  of  the  sea  ; 
And  Aruns  of  Volsiuium, 

Who  slew  the  great  wild  boar, 
The  great  wild  boar  that  had  his  den 
Amidst  the  reeds  of  .Cosa's  fen, 
And  wasted  fields,  and  slaughtered  men, 

Along  Albinia's  shore. 

XL. 

Herminius  smote  down  Aruns : 

Lartius  laid  Ocnus  low  : 
Right  to  the  heart -of  Lausulus 

Horatius  sent  a  blow. 
"Lie  there,"  he  cried,  "fell  pirate  ! 

No  more,  aghast  and  pale, 
From  Ostia's  walls  the  crowd  shall  mark 


384.  Pale  waves  of  Nar.    The  Nar  was  noted  for  its  sulphurous  waters 
and  white  color. 

406.  The    rover    of    the    sea — The    Etruscans,    like    the    Phenicians, 
united  the  practices  9f  piracy  arid  ' 
commerce, 


B  practices  of  piracy  aud  kidnapping  with  those   of  legitimate 
j,  aud  were  dreaded  generally  along  all  the  Mediterranean  shores. 


i  io  i:  ATI  us.  ; 

Tin-  track  i»f  thy  dot  roving  hark.  420 

.No  more  Campania'fl  liimls  sliall  lly 
To  woods  and  caverns  when  Ilicy  spy 
Thy  thrice  accursed  sail." 

XLI. 

But  now  no  sound  of  laughter 

Was  heard  among  tin-  foes. 
A  wild  and  wrathful  clamor 

From  all  the  vanguard  rose. 
Six  spears'  lengths  from  the  entrance 

Halted  that  deep  array, 
And  for  a  space  no  man  came  forth  430 

To  win  the  narrow  way. 

XLII. 
But  hark  !  the  cry  is  Astur : 

And  lo  !  the  ranks  divide  ; 
And  the  great  Lord  of  Luna 

Comes  with  his  stately  stride. 
Upon  his  ample  shoulders 

Clangs  loud  the  fourfold  shield, 
And  in  his  hand  he  shakes  the  brand 

Which  none  but  he  can  wield. 

XLIII. 
He  smiled  on  those  bold  Roman's  44^ 

A  smile  serene  and  high  ; 
He  eyed  the  flinching  Tuscans, 

And  scorn  was  in  his  eye. 
Quoth  he,  "  The  she-wolf's  litter 

Stand  savagely  at  bay : 
But  will  ye  dare  to  follow, 

If  Astur  clears  the  way  ?" 

XLIV. 

Then,  whirling  up  his  broadsword 
With  both  hands  to  the  height, 

444.  Quoth  he,  "The  she-wolPs  litter."— The  she-wolf,  in  the 
Roman  tale,  suckled  Romulus  and  Remus,  the  twin  children  of  Rhea  Ilia, 
or  Silvia. 


34  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT    HOME. 

450  He  rushed  against  Hbratius, 

And  smote  with  all  his  might. 

With  shield  and  blade  Horatius 
Right  deftly  turned  the  blow. 

The  blow,  though  turned,  came  yet  too  nigh  ; 

It  missed  his  helm,  but  gashed  his  thigh  : 

The  Tuscans  raised  a  joyful  cry 
To  see  the  red  blood  flow. 

XLV. 

He  reeled,  and  on  Herminius 

He  leaned  one  breathing-spade  ; 
46o  Then,  like  a  wild-cat  mad  with  wounds, 

Sprang  right  at  Astur's  face 
Through  teeth,  and  skull,  and  helmet 

So  fierce  a  thrust  he  sped, 
The  good  sword  stood  a  hand-breadth  out 

Behind  the  Tuscan's  head. 

XLVI. 

And  the  great  Lord  of  Luna 

Fell  at  that  deadly  stroke, 
As  falls  on  Mount  Alvernus 

A  thunder-smitten  oak. 
47o  Far  o'er  the  crashing  forest 

The  giant  arms  lie  spread  ; 
And  the  pale  augurs,  muttering  low, 

Gaze  on  the  blasted  head. 

XLVII. 

On  Astur's  throat  Horatius 

Right  firmly  pressed  his  heel, 
And  thrice  and  four  times  tugged  amain, 

Ere  he  wrenched  out  the  steel. 
"And  see,"  he  cried,  "the  welcome, 

Fair  guests,  that  waits  you  here  ! 
48°  What  noble  Lucumo  comes  next 

To  taste  our  Roman  cheer?" 


1IURATIUS.  '!"» 

MA'III. 

But  at  his  haughty  challenge 

A  sullen  murmur  ran, 
Mingled  of  wrath,  and  shame,  and  dread, 

Along  that  glittering  van. 
There  lacked  not  men  of  prowess, 

Nor  men  of  lordly  race  ; 
For  all  Elruria's  noblest 

Were  round  the  fatal  place. 

XLIX. 

But  all  Etruria's  noblest 

Felt  their  hearts  sink  to  see 
On  the  earth  the  bloody  corpses, 

In  the  path  the  dauntless  Three : 
And,  from  the  ghastly  entrance 

Where  those  bold  Romans  stood, 
All  shrank,  like  boys  who  unaware, 
Ranging  the  woods  to  start  a  hare, 
Come  to  the  mouth  of  the  dark  lair 
Where,  growling  low,  a  fierce  old  bear 

Lies  amidst  bones  and  blood. 


500 


Was  none  who  would  be  foremost 

To  lead  such  dire  attack  : 
But  those  behind  cried  "  Forward  !  " 

And  those  before  cried  "  Back  !" 
And  backward  now  and  forward 

Wavers  the  deep  array  ; 
And  on  the  tossing  sea  of  steel, 

To  and  fro  the  standards  reel ; 
And  the  victorious  trumpet-peal 

Dies  fitfully  away. 

LI. 
Yet  one  man  for  one  moment 

Stood  out  before  the  crowd  ; 
Well  known  was  he  to  all  the  Three, 

And  they  gave  him  greeting  loud, 


36  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT    ROME. 

"Now  welcome,  welcome,  Sextus! 

Now  welcome  to  thy  borne  ! 
Why  dost  thou  stay,  and  turn  away? 

Here  lies  the  road  to  Rome." 

LII. 

Thrice  looked  he  at  the  city  ; 
520  Thrice«lookcd  he  at  the  dead  ; 

And  thrice  came  on  in  fury, 

And  thrice  turned  back  in  dread : 
And,  white  with  fear  and  hatred, 

Scowled  at  the  narrow  way 
Where,  wallowing  in  a  pool  of  blood, 
The  bravest  Tuscans  lay. 

LJII. 

But  meanwhile  ax  and  lever 
Have  manfully  been  plied  ; 
And  now  the  bridge  hangs  tottering 
530  Above  the  boiling  tide. 

"  Come  back,  come  back,  Horatius  !  " 

Loud  cried  the  Fathers  all. 
"  Back,  Lartius  !  back,  Hermiuius  I 

Back,  ere  the  ruin  fall ! " 
f* 

LIV. 

Back  darted  Spurius  Lartius  ; 

Herminius  darted  back : 
And,  as  they  passed,  beneath  their  feet 

They  felt  the  timbers  crack. 
But  when  they  turned  their  faces, 
540  And  on  the  farther  shore 

Saw  brave  Horatius  stand  alone, 

They  wouTd  have  crossed  once  more. 

LV. 
But  with  a  crash  like  thunder 

Fell  every  loosened  beam, 
And,  like  a  darn,  the  mighty  wreck 


HORATIUS.  37 

Lay  right  athwart  the  stream. 
And  a  long  shout  of  triumph 

Rose  from  the  walls  of  Home, 
As  to  Ihc  highest.  turn-Mops 

Was  splashed  the  yellow  foam.  55o 

LVI. 

And,  like  a  horse  unbroken 

When  first  he  feels  the  rein, 
The  furious  river  struggled  hard, 

And  tossed  his  tawny  mane. 
And  burst  the  curb,  and  bounded, 

Rejoieing  to  be  free, 
And  whirling  down,  in  fierce  career, 
Battlement,  and  plank,  and  pier, 

Rushed  headlong  to  the  sea. 

LVII. 

Alone  stood  brave  Horatius,  56o 

But  constant  still  in  mind  ; 
Thrice  thirty  thousand  foes  before, 

And  the  broad  flood  behind. 
"Down  with  him  !  "  cried  false  Sexlns, 

With  a  smile  on  his  pale  face. 
"Now  yield  thee,"  cried  Lars  Porsei.a. 

"Now  yield  thee  to  our  grace." 

LVIII. 
Round  turned  he,  as  not  deigning 

Those  craven  ranks  to  see  ; 
Nought  spake  he  to  Lars  Porsena,  SJO 

To  Sextus  nought  spake  he  ; 
But  he  saw  on  Palatinus 

The  white  porch  of  his  home  ; 
And  he  spake  to  the  noble  river 

That  rolls  by  the  towers  of  Homo. 

LIX. 

"O  Tiber!  father  Tiber  ! 
To  whom  the  Romans  pray, 


38  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT   HOME. 

A  Roman's  life,  a  Roman's  arms, 
Take  thou  in  charge  this  day  !  " 
580  So  he  spake,  and  speaking  sheathed 

The  good  sword  by  his  side, 

And  with  his  harness  on  his  back, 
Plunged  headlong  in  the  tide. 

LX. 

"  No  sound  of  joy  or  sorrow 

Was  heard  from  either  bank  ; 
But  friends  and  foes  in  dumb  surprise, 
With  parted  lips  and  straining  eyes, 

Stood  gazing  where  he  sank  ; 
And  when  above  the  surges 
59o  They  saw  his  crest  appear, 

All  Rome  sent  forth  a  rapturous  cry, 
And  even  the  ranks  of  Tuscany 

Could  scarce  forbear  to  cheer. 

LXI. 
But  fiercely  ran  the  current, 

Swollen  high  by  months  of  rain : 
And  fast  his  blood  was  flowing  ; 

And  he  was  sore  in  pain, 
And  heavy  with  his  armor, 

And  spent  willi  changing  blows  : 
And  oft  they  thought  him  sinking, 

But  still  again  he  rose. 

LXII. 

Never,  I  ween,  did  swimmer, 

In  such  an  evil  case, 
Struggle  through  such  a  raging  flood 

Safe  to  the  landing-place  : 
But  his  limbs  were  borne  up  bravely 

By  the  brave  heart  within, 
And  our  good  father  Tiber 

Bore  bravely  up  his  chin. 

599.  And   spent  with  changing   blows.— Worn  out  with   fighting  or 
exchanging  blows. 


39 


IAIII. 

"  Curse  on  him  !  "  quoth  false  Srxtus  ;  610 

"  Will  not  the  villain  drown  ? 
I  Jut  for  this  stay,  ere  close  of  day 

We  should  have  sacked  the  town  !  ' 
'  I  leaven  help  him  !  "  quoth  Lars  Porscna, 

"  And  bring  him  safe  to  shore  ; 
For  such  a  gallant  feat  of  arms 

Was  never  seen  before." 

I,  XIV. 

And  now  he  feels  the  bottom  ; 

Now  on  dry  earth  he  stands  ; 
Now  round  him  throng  the  Fathers  620 

To  press  his  gory  hands  ; 
And  now,  with  shouts  and  clapping, 

And  noise  of  weeping  loud, 
He  enters  through  the  River-Gate, 

Borne  by  the  joyous  crowd. 


They  gave  him  of  the  corn-land. 

That  was  of  public  right, 
As  much  as  two  strong  oxen 

Could  plow  from  morn  till  night ; 
And  they  made  a  molten  image,  630 

And  set  it  up  on  high, 
And  there  it  stands  unto  this  day 

To  witness  if  I  lie. 

LXVT. 

It  stands  in  the  Comitium, 

Plain  for  all  folk  to  see  ; 
Horatius  in  his  harness, 

Halting  upon  one  knee  : 
And  underneath  is  written, 

In  letters  all  of  gold, 

634.  It  stands  In  the  Comitiuin. — The  place  of  meeting  for  the 
thirty  Curiae,  which  made  up  the  whole  body  of  Roman  patricians.  It  was 
included  in  the  Forum. 


40  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT   ROME. 

64Q  How  valiantly  he  kept  the  bridge 

In  the  brave  days  of  old. 

LXVII. 

And  still  his  name  sounds  stirring 

Unto  the  men  of  Rome, 
As  the  trumpet- blast  that  cries  to  them 

To  charge  the  Volscian  home  ; 
And  wives  still  pray  to  Juno 

For  boys  with  hearts  as  bold 
As  his  who  kept  the  bridge  so  well 

In  the  brave  days  of  old. 

LXVIII. 

6so  And  in  the  nights  of  winter, 

When  the  cold  north  winds  blow, 
And  the  long  howling  of  the  wolves 

Is  heard  amidst  the  snow  ; 
When  round  the  lonely  cottage 

Roars  loud  the  tempest's  din, 
Aud  the  good  logs  of  Algidus 

Roar  louder  yet,  within  ; 

LXIX. 

When  the  oldest  cask  is  opened, 

And  the  largest  lamp  is  lit; 
66o  When  the  chestnuts  glow  in  the  embers, 

And  the  kid  turns  on  the  spit ; 
When  young  and  old  in  circle 

Around  the  firebrands  close  ; 
When  the  girls  are  weaving  baskets, 

And  the  lads  are  shaping  bows ; 

LXX. 

When  the  goodrnan  mends  his  armor, 
And  trims  his  helmet's  plume  ; 

656.  And   the  good  logs  of  Algidus.— A  forest-clad  hill  lying  to  the 
north  of  the  Alban  lake,  about  twelve  miles  south-east  of  Rome. 


IHHIATIUS.  41 

When  the  goodwife's  shuttle  merrily 

Goes  flashing  through  the  loom ; 
With  weeping  and  with  laughter  670 

Still  is  the  story  told, 
How  well  Horatius  kept  the  bridge 

In  the  brave  days  of  old. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  LAKE  REGILLUS. 

THE  following  poem  is  supposed  to  have  been  produced 
about  ninety  years  after  the  lay  of  Horatius.  Some  persons 
mentioned  in  the  lay  of  Horatius  make  their  appearance  again, 
and  some  appellations  and  epithets  used  in  the  lay  of  Horatius 
have  been  purposely  repeated:  for,  in  an  age  of  ballad  poetry, 
it  scarcely  ever  fails  to  happen,  that  certain  phrases  come  to 
be  appropriated  to  certain  men  and  things,  and  are  regularly 
applied  to  those  men  and  things  by  every  minstrel. 
The  principal  distinction  between  the  lay  of  Horatius  and 

10  the  lay  of  the  Lake  Regillus  is  that  the  former  is  meant  to  be 
purely  Roman,  while  the  latter,  though  national  in  its  general 
spirit,  has  a  slight  tincture  of  Greek  learning  and  of  Greek  super- 
stition. The  story  of  the  Tarquins,  as  it  has  come  down  to  us, 
appears  to  have  been  compiled  from  the  works  of  several 
popular  poets;  and  one,  at  least,  of  those  poets  appears  to  have 
visited  the  Greek  colonies  in  Italy,  if  not  Greece  itself,  and  to 
have  had  some  acquaintance  with  the  works  of  Homer  and 
Herodotus.  Many  of  the  most  striking  adventures  of  the 
house  of  Tarquin,  before  Lucretia  makes  her  appearance,  have 

20  a  Greek  character.  The  Tarquins  themselves  are  represented 
as  Corinthian  nobles  of  the  great  house  of  the  Bacchiada?, 
driven  from  their  country  by  the  tyranny  of  that  Cypselus,  the 
tale  of  whose  strange  escape  Herodotus  has  related  with  incom- 
parable simplicity  and  liveliness.  Livy  and  Dionysius  tell  us 
that,  when  Tarquin  the  Proud  was  asked  what  was  the  best 
mode  of  governing  a  conque*red  city,  he  replied  only  by  beating 
down  with  his  staff  all  the  tallest  poppies  in  his  garden.  This 
is  exactly  what  Herodotus,  in  the  passage  to  which  reference 
has  already  been  made,  relates  of  the  counsel  given  to  Perian- 

43 


THE   BATTLE   OF   THE   LAKE   REGILLU8.  43 

der,  the  son  of  Cypselus.     The  >!  ratagemby  which  the  town  of  3o 
(jabii    is  brought  under  I  he   power  of  the    Tar<|iiins  is,  again, 
obviously  copied  from  Herodotus.      The  embassy  of  the  young 
Tanjuins  to  llio  oracle  at    I  >clphi  is  just    such  a  .xlory  as  would 
be  told  by  u  poet  \vliose  liead  was  full  of  the  (Jreek  myl  hology 
and  the  ambiguous  aDSWer   returned  by  Apollo   is  in  the  exact 
style  of  the  prophecies  which,  according  to   Herodotus,  lured 
Croesus  to  destruction.     Then  the  character  of  the  narrative 
changes.     From  the  first  mention  of  Lueretia  to  the  red-eat  of 
Porsena  nothing  seems  to  be  borrowed  from  foreign  source- 
The  villainy  of  Sextus,  the,  suicide  of  his  victim,  the  revolution.  .,,. 
the  dentil  of  the  sons  of  Brutus,  the  defense  of  the  bridge, 
Mucius   burning   his  hand,  (Mo-lia  swimming  through   Tiber, 
seem  to  be  all  strictly  Roman.     But  when  we  have  done  with 
the  Tuscan  war,  and  enter  upon  the  war  with  the  Latines,  we 
an-  again  struck  by  the  Greek  air  of  the  story.     The  Battle  of  the 
Lake    Kegillus  is  in  all    respects  a    Homeric  battle,  except  that 
the  combatants  ride  astride  on  their  horses,  instead  of  driving 
chariots.     The  mass  of  fighting  men  is  hardly  mentioned.     The 
leaders  single  each  other  out,  and  engage  hand  to  hand.     The 
great  object  of  the  warriors  on  both  sides  is,  as  in  the  Iliad,  to  5o 
obtain  possession  of  the  spoils  and  bodies  of  the  slain;  and 
several  circumstances  are  related  which  forcibly  remind  us  of 
the  great  slaughter  round  the  corpses  of  Sarpedon  and  Patro- 
clus. 

But  there  is  one  circumstance  which  deserves  especial  notice. 
Both  the  war  of  Troy  and  the  war  of  Regillus  were  caused  by 
the  licentious  passions  of  young  princes,  wrho  were  therefore 
peculiarly  bound  not  to  be  sparing  of  their  own  persons  in  the 
day  of  battle.  Now  the  conduct  of  Sextus  at  Kegillus,  as  de- 
scribed by  Livy,  so  exactly  resembles  that  of  Paris,  as  described  60 
at  the  beginning  of  the  third  book  of  the  Iliad,  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  believe  the  resemblance  accidental.  Paris  appears 
before  the  Trojan  ranks,  defying  the  bravest  Greek  to  en- 
counter him.  Livy  introduces  Sextus  in  a  similar  manner. 
Menelaus  rushes  to  meet  Paris.  A  Roman  noble,  eager  for 
vengeance,  spurs  his  horse  towards  Sextus.  Both  the  guilty 
princes  are  instantly  terror-stricken; 


44  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT    ROME. 

If  this  be  a  fortuitous  coincidence,  it  is  one  of  the  most  ex- 
traordinary in  literature. 

7o  In  the  following  poem,  therefore,  images  and  incidents  have 
been  borrowed,  not  merely  without  scruple,  but  on  principle, 
from  the  incomparable  battle-pieces  of  Homer. 

The  popular  belief  at  Rome,  from  an  early  period,  seems  to 
have  been  that  the  event  of  the  great  day  of  Regillus  was 
decided  by  supernatural  agency.  Castor  and  Pollux,  it  was 
said,  had  fought,  armed  and  mounted,  at  the  head  of  the  legions 
of  the  common  wealth^  and  had  afterwards  carried  the  news  of 
the  victory  with  incredible  speed  to  the  city.  The  well  in  the 
Forum  at  which  they  had  alighted  was  pointed  out.  Near  the 

80  well  rose  their  ancient  temple.  A  great  festival  was  kept  to 
their  honor  on  the  Ides  of  Quintilis,  supposed  to  be  the  anni- 
versary of  the  battle;  and  on  that  day  sumptuous  sacrifices 
were  offered  to  them  at  the  public  charge.  One  spot  on  the 
margin  of  Lake  Regillus  was  regarded  during  many  ages" with 
superstitious  awe.  A  mark,  resembling  in  shape  a  horse's  hoof, 
was  discernible  in  the  volcanic  rock;  and  this  mark  was  be- 
lieved to  have  been  made  by  one  of  the  celestial  chargers. 

How  the  legend  originated  cannot  now  be  ascertained :  but 
we  may  easily  imagine  several  ways  in  which  it  might  have 

9o  originated;  nor  is  it  at  all  necessary  to  suppose,  with  Julius 
Frontinus,  that  two  young  men  were  dressed  up  by  the  Dic- 
tator to  personate  the  sons  of  Leda.  It  is  probable  that  Livy  is 
correct  when  he  says  that  the  Roman  general,  in  the  hour  of 
peril,  vowed  a  temple  to  Castor.  If  so,  nothing  could  be  more 
natural  than  that  the  multitude  should  ascribe  the  victory  to 
the  favor  of  the  Twin  Gods.  When  such  was  the  prevailing 
sentiment,  any  man  who  chose  to  declare  that,  in  the  midst 
of  the  confusion  and  slaughter,  he  had  seen  two  godlike  forms 
on  white  horses  scattering  the  Latines,  would  find  ready  cred- 
100  ence.  We  know,  indeed,  that,  in  modern  times,  a  very  similar 
story  actually  found  credence  among  a  people  much  more 
civilized  than  the  Romans  of  the  fifth  century  before  Christ. 
A  chaplain  of  Cortes,  writing  about  thirty  years  after  the  con- 
quest of  Mexico,  in  an  age  of  printing-presses,  libraries,  uni- 
versities, scholars,  logicians,  jurists,  and  statesmen,  had  the 


T1IK    BATTLE    OF    THE    LAKE    KKCILLUS.  45 

face  to  a>sert   that,  in  one  engagement  against   the   Indians, 

Saint  -lames  had  appeared  on  ;i  gray  Imrsr  at  the  head  of  I  lie 
Cast  ilian  advent  mvrs.  Many  of  those  advent  urers  were  living 
when  this  lir  was  printed.  One  ol  them,  honest  Bernal  Diaz, 
wroir  an  account  of  the  expedition.  He  had  the  evidence  <»f  n 
his  own  .senses  against  the  legend;  l»nt  lie  seems  to  have  dis- 
trusted even  the  evidence  of  his  own  senses.  He  says  thai  he 
was  in  the  battle,  and  that  he  saw  a  gray  horse  with  a  man  on 
his  back,  but  that  the  man  was,  to  his  thinking,  Francesco  de 
Morla.  and  not  the  ever-blessed  apostle  Saint  James.  "  Never- 
theless." Hernal  adds,  u  it  may  be  that  the  person  on  the  gray 
horse  was  the  glorious  apostle  Saint  James,  and  that  I,  sinner 
that  I  am,  was  unworthy  to  see  him."  The  Romans  of  the  age 
of  Cincinnatus  were  probably  quite  as  credulous  as  the  Span- 
ish subjects  of  Charles  the  Fifth.  It  is  therefore  conceivable  120 
that  the  appearance  of  Castor  and  Pollux  may  have  become  an 
article  of  faith  before  the  generation  which  had  fought  at 
Regillus  had  passed  away.  Nor  could  anything  be  more 
natural  than  that  the  poets  of  the  next  age  should  embellish 
this  story,  and  make  the  celestial  horsemen  bear  the  tidings  of 
victory  to  Rome. 

Many  years  after  the  temple  of  the  Twin  Gods  had  been 
built  in  the  Forum,  an  important  addition  was  made  to  the 
ceremonial  by  which  the  state  annually  testified  its  gratitude 
for  their  protection.  Quintus  Fabius  and  Publius  Decius  were  130 
elected  Censors  at  a  momentous  crisis.  It  had  become  abso- 
lutely necessary  that  the  classification  of  the  citizens  should  be 
revised.  On  that  classification  depended  the  distribution  of 
political  power.  Party-spirit  ran  high ;  and  the  republic  seemed 
to  be  in  danger  of  falling  under  the  dominion  either  of  a  nar- 
row oligarchy  or  of  an  ignorant  and  headstrong  rabble. 
Under  such  circumstances,  the  most  illustrious  patrician  and 
the  most  illustrious  plebeian  of  the  age  were  intrusted  with 
the  office  of  arbitrating  between  the  angry  factions;  and  they 
performed  their  arduous  task  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  honest  i40 
and  reasonable  men. 

One  of  their  reforms  was  a  remodeling  of  the   equestrian 
order ;  and,  having  effected  this  reform,  they  determined  to, 


46  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT    ROME. 

give  to  their  work  a  sanction  derived  from  religion.  In  the 
chivalrous  societies  of  modern  times,  societies  which  have 
much  more  than  may  at  first  sight  appear  in  common  with 
the  equestrian  order  of  Rome,  it  has  been  usual  to  invoke  the 
special  protection  of  some  saint,  and  to  observe  his  day  with 
peculiar  solemnity.  Thus  the  Companions  of  the  Garter  wear 

150  the  image  of  Saint  George  depending  from  their  collars,  and 
meet,  on  great  occasions,  in  Saint  George's  Chapel.  Thus, 
when  Lewis  the  Fourteenth  instituted  a  new  order  of  chivalry 
for  the  rewarding  of  military  merit,  he  commended  it  to  the 
favor  of  his  own  glorified  ancestor  and  patron,  and  decreed 
that  all  the  members  of  the  fraternity  should  meet  at  the  royal 

f  palace  on  the  feast  of  Saint  Lewis,  should  attend  the  king  to 
chapel,  should  hear  mass,  and  should  subsequently  hold  their 
great  annual  assembly.  There  is  a  considerable  resemblance 
between  this  rule  of  the  order  of  Saint  Lewis  and  the  rule 

160  which  Fabius  and  Decius  made  respecting  the  Roman  knights. 
It  was  ordained  that  a  grand  muster  and  inspection  of  the 
equestrian  body  should  be  part  of  the  ceremonial  performed, 
on  the  anniversary  of  the  battle  of  Regillus,  in  honor  of  Castor 
and  Pollux,  the  two  equestrian  gods.  All  the  knights,  clad  in 
purple  and  crowned  with  olive,  were  to  meet  at  a  temple  of 
Mars  in  the  suburbs.  Thence  they  were  to  ride  in  state  to  the 
Forum,  where  the  temple  of  the  Twins  stood.  This  pageant 
was,  during  several  centuries,  considered  as  one  of  the  most 
splendid  sights  of  Rome.  In  the  time  of  Dionysius  the  caval- 

170  cade  sometimes  consisted  of  five  thousand  horsemen,  all  per- 
sons of  fair  repute  and  easy  fortune. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Censors  who  instituted  this 
august  ceremony  acted  in  concert  with  the  Pontiffs  to  whom, 
by  the  constitution  of  Rome,  the  superintendence  of  the  public 
worship  belonged;  and  it  is  probable  that  those  high  religious 
functionaries  were,  as  usual,  fortunate  enough  to  find  in  their 
books  or  traditions  some  warrant  for  the  innovation. 

The  following  poem  is  supposed  to  have  been  made  for  this 
great  occasion.  Songs,  we  know,  were  chanted  at  the  religious 

180  festivals  of  Rome  from  an  early  period;  indeed  from  so  early 
aperiod;  that  some  of  the  sacred  verses  were  popularly  ascribed 


llli:     ISVTTLK    OF    TI1K    I.AKK    KKCII.LUS.  47 

to  Numa,  and  were  utterly  unintelligible  in  the  age  of  Augus- 
tus, hi  the  Second  IMmic  War  ;i  great  feast  was  held  in  honor 
of  Juno,  and  a  song  was  sung  in  her  praise.  This  song  was 
extant  when  Livy  wrote;  and,  though  exceedingly  rugged 
and  uncouth,  seemed  to  him  not  wholly  destitute  of  merit.  A 
song,  as  welearn  from  Horace,  was  part  of  the  established  ritual 
at  the  great  Secular  Jubilee.  It  is  therefore  likely  that  the 
Censors  and  Pontiffs,  when  they  had  resolved  to  add  a  grand 
procession  of  knights  to  the  other  solemnities  annually  per-  •  «,,.. 
formed  on  the  Ides  of  Quint  ills,  would  call  in  the  aid  of  a  poet. 
Such  a  poet  would  naturally  take  for  his  subject  the  battle  of 
Ilrgillus,  the  appearance  of  the  Twin  Gods,  and  the  institution 
of  their  festival.  He  would  find  abundant  materials  in  the 
ballads  of  his  predecessors;  and  he  would  make  free  use  of  the 
scanty  stock  of  (Jrcek  learning  which  he  had  himself  acquired. 
He  would  probably  introduce  some  wise  and  holy  Pontiff  en- 
joining the  magnificent  ceremonial,  which,  after  a  long  inter- 
val, had  at  length  been  adopted.  If  the  poem  succeeded, 
many  persons  would  commit  it  to  memory.  Parts  of  it  would  200 
be  sung  to  the  pipe  at  banquets.  It  would  be  peculiarly  inter- 
est ing  to  the  great  Posthumian  House,  which  numbered  among 
its  many  images  that  of  the  Dictator  Aul  us,  the  hero  of  Regillus. 
The  orator  who,  in  the  following  generation,  pronounced  the 
funeral  pancgyic  over  the  remains  of  Lucius  Posthumius 
Me^ellus,  thrice  Consul,  would  borrow  largely  trom  the  lay; 
and  thus  some  passages,  much  disiigured,  would  probably  find 
their  way  into  the  chronicles  which  were  afterwards  in  the 
hands  of  Dionysius  and  Livy. 

Antiquaries  differ  widely  as  to  the  situation  of  the  iield  of  210 
battle.     The  opinion  of  those  who  suppose  that  the  armies  met 
near  Cornufelle,  between  Frascati  and  the  Monte  Porzio,  is  at 
least  plausible,  and  has  been  followed  in  the  poem. 

As  to  the  details  of  the  battle,  it  has  not  been  thought  desir- 
able to  adhere  minutely  to  the  accounts  which  have  come  down 
to  us.  Those  accounts,  indeed,  differ  widely  from  each  other, 
and,  in  all  probability,  differ  as  widely  from  the  ancient  poem 
from  which  they  were  originally  derived. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  point  out  the  obvious  imitations  of  the 
Iliad,  which  have  been  purposely  introduced/  220 


The  Battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus. 

A   LAY  SUNG  AT    THE    FEAST    OF    CASTOR,    AND    POLLUX,    ON   THE 
IDES  OF   OJJINTILIS,    IN   THE  YEAll   OF   THE   CITY  CCCCLI. 

I. 

Ho,  trumpets,  sound  a  war-note  ! 

Ho,  lictors,  clear  tbe  way  ! 
The  Knights  will  ride,  in  all  their  pride, 

Along  the  streets  to-day. 
To-day  the  doors  and  windows 

Are  hung  with  garlands  all, 
From  Castor  in  the  Forum, 

To  Mars  without  the  wall. 
Each  Knight  is  robed  in  purple, 
230  With  olive  each  is  crowned  ; 

A  gallant  war-horse  under  each 

Paws  haughtily  the  ground. 
While  flows  the  Yellow  River, 

While  stands  the  Sacred  Hill, 
The  proud  Ides  of  Quintilis 

Shall  have  such  honor  still. 
Gay  are  the  Martian  Kalends : 


2.'2.  Ho,  lictors,  clear  the  way  !— The  lictors  were  attendants  of 
the  patrician  magistrates,  armed  with  rods  and  axes. 

247.  From  Castor  in  the  Foruin — Castor  and  Mars  are  here  used 
to  denote  the  temples  built  in  honor  of  these  deities,  just  as  we  speak  of 
St.  Peter's  at  Rome. 

233.  While    flows    the   Yellow   River.—  The   Tiber,  from    its   yellow 
sands;  hence  called  also  the  golden. 

234.  While    stands     the     Sacred    Hill.— The    Sacred    Hill    was    an 
eminence  beyond  the  river  Anio.     It  was  associated  chiefly  with  the  seces- 
sion of  the  Pl'ebs.     See  note  to  "  Horatius,"  line  3. 

235.  The  proud  Ides  of  Quintilis.— The  fifteenth  day  of  July,  which 
by  the  Romans,  whose  year  began  with  March,  was  styled  Quiutilis,  or  the 
fifth  month.    The  Ides  divided  each  month  into  two  equal  or  nearly  equal 

237  Gay  are  the  Martian  Kalends.— The  first  day  of  each  month 
was  known  as  the  Kalends.  On  the  first  of  March  the  sacred  fire  was 
solemnly  rekindled  on  the  hearth  of  the  Temple  of  Vesta. 


TIIK    BATTLE    <>K    TIM!    I.AKI!     K  K»  1 1 l.U'S.  49 

December's  Nones  are  gay  : 
But  .the  proud  Ides,  when  the  squadron  rides, 
Shall  be  Koine's  whitest  day. 

II. 

Unto  the  Great  Twin  brethren 

We  keep  this  solemn  feast. 
Swift,  swift,  the  Great  Twin  Brethren 

Came  spurring  from  the  east. 
They  came  o'er  wild  I'arthenius 

Tossing  in  waves  of  pine, 
O'er  Cirrha's  dome,  o'er  Adria's  foam, 

O'er  purple  A  pen  nine, 
From  where  with  ilutes  and  dunces 

Their  ancient  mansion  rings, 
In  lordly  Lacedamipn, 

The  City  of  two  kings, 
To  where,  by  Lake  Kegillus, 

Under  the  Porciaii  height. 
All  in  the  lands  of  Tusculum, 

Was  fought  the  glorious  fight. 

in. 

Now  on  the  place  of  slaughter 
Are  cots  and  sheepfolds  seen, 

238.  December's  Nones  are  gay.— The  fifth  day  of  December.  The 
nones  fell  on  the  fifth  or  the  seventh  of  each  month,  and  were  so  called, 
possibly,  as  denoting  a  period  of  nine  days  before  the  Ides. 

240.  Shall  be  Koine's  whitest  day. — Days  of  good  omen  were  marked 
with  chalk;  those  of  ill  omen  with  charcoal. 

241.  Unto   the   Great   Twin   Brethren.— These   are  the   twin  deities, 
Castor  and  Pollux.     Of  the  many  stories   told  of  their   origin,  the  most 
familiar  is  that  which  speaks  of  them  as  the  brothers  of  Helen,  and  as 
sprung  with  her  from  a  single  egg.    The  name  of  the  former  was  associated 
with  skill  in  the  management  of  horses,  that  of  the  latter  with  boxing 
They  are  sometimes  represented  as  coming  to  life  alternately,  according  to 
the  relation  of  day  and  night. 

245  They  came  o'er  wild  Parthenius.—  These  lines  describe  the 
course  of  the  mysterious  riders  from  their  Eastern  birthplace.  The 
Parthenian  range  is  the  eastern  barrier  of  the  Arkadian  or  central  highlands 
of  the  Peloponnese. 

251.  In    lordly    Ijacedaemon. — The  city  of    the    Lacedaemonians  was 
more  commonly  called  Sparta.    It  consisted  of  four  hamlets  on  the  banks 
of  the  Eurotas.  which  drained  the  valley  of  Taygetos. 

252.  The  City  of  two  kings.—  Nominally  at  the  head  of    the  Spartan 
state,  were  the  two  kings  who  belonged    respectively  to   the   houses  of 
Eurysthenes  and   Prokles,  the  twin  sons  of  Aristodemos,  a  descendant  of 
the  great  hero  Herakles. 


50  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   ROME. 

v 
And  rows  of  \iues,  and  fields  of  wheat, 

And  apple-orchards  green ; 
The  swine  crush  the  big  acorns 

That  fall  from  Corne's  oaks. 
Upon  the  turf  by  the  Fair  Fount 

The  reaper's  pottage  smokes. 
The  fisher  baits  his  angle ; 

The  hunter  twangs  his  bow  ; 
Little  they  think  on  those  strong  limbs 

That  molder  deep  below. 
Little  they  think  how  sternly 
o  That  day  the  trumpets  pealed  ; 

How  in  the  slippery  swamp  of  blood 

Warrior  and  war-horse  reeled  ; 
How  wolves  came  with  fierce  gallop, 

And  crows  on  eager  wings, 
To  tear  the  flesh  of  captains, 

And  peck  the  eyes  of  kings  ; 
How  thick  the  dead  lay  scattered 

Under  the  Porcian  height ; 
How  through  the  gates  of  Tusculum 
3  Raved  the  wild  stream  of  flight ; 

And  how  the  Lake  J&egijlus 

Bubbled  with  crimson  foam, 
What  time  the  Thirty  Cities 

Came -forth  to  war  with  Rome. 

IV. 

But,  Roman,  when  thou  standest 

Upon  that  holy  ground, 
Look  thou  with  heed  on  the  dark  rock 

That  girds  the  dark  lake  round, 
So  shalt  thou  see  a  hoof -mark 

Stamped  deep  into  the  flint : 
It  was  no  hoof  of  mortal  steed 

That  made  so  strange  a  dint : 

281.  And  how  the  Lake  Re^illus.— Of  this  lake,  which  is  said  to 
have  been  in  the  neighborhood  of  Tusculum.  not  a  trace  is  now  to  be  found. 

283.  What  time  the  Thirty  Cities.— The  Thirty  Cities  of  the  Latin 
Confederacy  are  supposed  to  have  taken  up  the  cause  of  the  expelled 
Tarquins. 


TIIK    HATTLK    OK    TIIK     I.AKK.     K  KGILLU8.  51 

There  to  the  Great  Twin  Hrethren 

Vow  thou  thy  vows,  ami  pray 
That   they,  in  tempest,  and  in  li-rhl, 

Will  keep  thy  head  alwuy. 

v. 
Since  last  the  Great  Twin  Brethren 

Of  mortal  eyes  were  seen, 
Have  years  gone  by  an  hundred 

Ami  fourscore  and  thirteen. 
That  summer  a  Virginius 

Was  Consul  first  in  place  ; 
The  second  was  stout  Aulus, 

Of  the  Posthumian  race. 
The  Herald  of  the  Lalines 

From  Gabii  came  in  state : 
The  Herald  of  the  Latines 

Passed  through  Rome's  Eastern  Gate  : 
The  Herald  of  the  Latines 

Did  in  our  Forum  stand  ;  310 

And  there  he  did  his  office, 

A  scepter  in  his  hand. 

vr. 

"  Hear,  Senators  and  people 

Of  the  good  town  of  Home, 
The  Thirty  Cities  charge  you 

To  bring  the  Tarquins  home  : 
And  if  ye  still  be  stubborn, 

To  work  the  Tarqnius  wrong, 
The  Thirty  Cities  warn  you, 

Look  that  your  walls  be  strong."  320 


302   Was  Consul  first  in  place.— See  note  to  "  Horatius."  line  5. 

305.  The  Herald  of  the  Latines The  Romans  themselves  belonged 

to  the  Latin  race;  hut  the  destruction  of  Alba  Longa.  the  religions  center 
of  the  Latin  league,  marks  the  severance  between  them  and  their  kins- 
folk, whose  supremacy  was  by  that  event  destroyed  for  ever. 

316  To  bring  the  Tarquins  home. — According  to  the  story  followed 
by  Livy.  the  family  of  the  Tarouins,  which  supplied  two  kings  to  Rome. 
was  Greek. 


52  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   ROME. 

VII. 
Then  spake  the  Consul  Aulus, 

He  spake  a  bitter  jest : 
"  Once  the  jay  sent  a  message 

Unto  the  eagle's  nest : — 
Now  yield  thou  up  thine  eyrie 

Unto  the  carrion-kite, 
Or  come  forth  valiantly,  and  face 

The  jays  in  deadly  fight.— 
Forth  looked  in  wrath  the  eagle; 

And  carrion-kite  and  jay, 
Soon  as  they  saw  his  beak  and  claw, 

Fled  screaming  far  away. " 

VIII. 

The  Herald  of  the  Latines 

Hath  hied  him  back  in  state  ; 
The  Fathers  of  the  City 

Are  met  in  high  debate. 
Then  spake  the  elder  Consul, 

An  ancient  man  and  wise  : 
"Now  hearken,  Conscript  Fathers, 
,  To  that  which  I  advise. 

In  seasons  of  great  peril 

'Tis  good  that  one  bear  sway ; 
Then  choose  we  -a  Dictator, 

Whom  all  men  shall  obey, 
Camerium  knows  how  deeply 

The  sword  of  Aulus  bites, 
And  all  our  city  calls  him 

The  man  of  seventy  fights. 
Then  let  him  be  Dictator 

For  six  months  and  no  more, 

339.  "  Now  hearken,  Conscript  Fathers." — That  all  the  members 
of  the  dominant  class  at  Rome  were  called  Patres  or  Patricians  has  been 
already  mentioned  (note  to  il  Horatius,"  page  30,  line  361).  Those  of  the 
Patres  who  were  chosen  into  the  Senate,  and  had  their  names  enrolled  in 
the  lists  of  members,  were  called  Patres  Conscripti.  Ihne,  Early  Rome. 

343.  Then  choose  we  a  Dictator. — According  to  the  belief  of  Livy, 
the  Dictator  was  an  extraordinary  magistrate,  first  appointed  after  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  kings.  Named  by  one  of  the  Consuls,  he  was  invested  with 
supreme  military  power,  which  he  was  bound  to  lay  down  at  the  end  of  six 
months  at  latest. 


THE    BATTLE    OP    THE    LAKE    RECII.l.rs.  53 

And  have  a  Master  of  tho  Knights, 
And  axes  twenty-four. " 

PC, 

So  Aulus  was  Dictator, 

The  man  of  seventy  fights  ; 
He  made  ^Ebutius  Elva 

His  Master  of  the  Knights. 
On  the  third  morn  thereafter, 

At  dawning  of  the  day. 
Did  Aulus  and  ./Ebutius 

Set  forth  with  their  array. 
Sempronius  Atratiuus 

Was  left  in  charge  at  home 
With  boys,  and  with  gray-headed  men, 

To  keep  the  walls  of  Rome. 
Hard  by  the  Lake  Regillus 

Our  camp  was  pitched  at  night : 
Eastward  a  mile  the  Latines  lay, 

Under  the  Porciau  height. 
Far  over  hill  and  valley 

Their  mighty  host  wras  spread  ; 
And  with  their  thousand  watch-tires 

The  midnight  sky  was  red. 


x. 

Up  rose  the  golden  morning 

Over  the  Porciau  height, 
The  proud  Ides  of  Quintilis 

Marked  evermore  with  white. 
Not  without  secret  trouble 

Our  bravest  saw  the  foes  ; 
For  girt  by  threescore  thousand  spears, 

The  thirty  standards  rose.  38o 

From  every  warlike  city 

That  boasts  of  the  Latian  name, 

352.  And  axes  twenty-four — Each  of  the  two  Consuls  was  attended 
by  twelve  lictors,  of  whom  each  bore  an  axe  (securis),  bound  up  in  a  bundle 
of  rods  (fasces). 


54  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   ROME. 

Foredoomed  to  dogs  and  vultures, 

That  gallant  army  came  ; 
From  Setia's  purple  vineyards, 

From  Norba's  ancient  wall, 
From  the  white  streets  of  Tuscu.urn, 

The  proudest  town  of  all ; 
From  where  the  Witch's  Fortress 
3QO  O'erhangs  the  dark  blue  seas  ; 

From  the  still  glassy  lake  that  sleeps 

Beneath  Aricia's  trees — 
Those  trees  in  whose  dim  shadow 

The  ghastly  priest  doth  reign, 
The  priest  who  slew  the  slayer, 

And  shall  himself  be  slain  ; 
From  the  drear  banks  of  Ufens, 

Where  flights  of  marsh-fowl  play, 
And  buffaloes  lies  wallowing 
400  Through  the  hot  summer's  day  ; 

From  the  gigantic  watch-towers, 

No  work  of  earthly  men, 
Whence  Cora's  sentinels  o'erlook 

The  never-ending  fen  ; 
From  the  Laurentian  jungle, 

The  wild-hog's  reedy  home  ; 
From  the  green  steeps  whence  Anio  leaps 

In  floods  of  snow-white  foam. 

XI. 

Aricia,  Cora,  Norba, 

Velitrae,  with  the  might 
Of  Setia  and  of  Tusculum, 

Were  marshaled  on  the  right : 
The  leader  was  Mamilius, 

389.  From  where  the  Witch's  Fortress.— Circeii,  the  supposed  home 
of  Circe,  the  daughter  of  the  Sun,  whose  magic  potions  could  convert  men 
into  swine. 

396.  And  shall  himself  he  slain.— According  to  the  story  told  by 
Pausanias,  Hippolytus,  the  son  of  Theseus,  on  being  raised  from  the  dead 
by  .Esculapius,  crossed  the  sea  and  came  to  Aricia,  where  he  dedicated  a 
temple  to  Diana.  The  priest  of  this  temple  was  to  be  a  runaway  slave  who 
had  conquered  his  opponent  in  single  combat.  Thus  a  slave  who  challenged 
the  existing  priest  and  slew  him  would  himself  at  once  become  the  priest, 
aud  remain  so  till  he  should  himself  be  worsted  by  another. 


TIIK    BATTLE    OF    TIIK    I.AKK     IJ  KGILLUS.  55 

Prince  of  the  Ljitiun  name  ; 
Upon  his  head  a  helmet 

Of  red  gold  shone  like  flume  ; 
High  on  :i  gallant  charger 

Of  d;  irk -gray  hue  he  rode  ; 
Over  his  gilded  armor 

A  vest  of  purple  flowed,  < 

Woven  in  the  land  of  sunrise 

By  Syria's  dark-browed  daughters, 
And  by  the  sails  of  Carthage  brought 

Far  o'er  the  southern  waters. 

XII. 

Lavinium  and  Laurcutum 

Had  on  the  left  their  post, 
With  all  the  banners  of  the  marsh. 

And  banners  of  the  coast. 
Their  leader  was  false  Sextus, 

That  wrought  the  deed  of  shame  : 
With  restless  pace  and  haggard  face 

To  his  last  field  he  came. 
Men  said  he  saw  si  range  visions 

Which  none  beside  might  see, 
And  that  strange  sounds  were  in  his  ears 

Which  none  might  hear  but  he. 
A  woman  fair  and  stately, 

But  pale  as  are  the  dead  ; 
Oft  through  the  watches  of  the  night 

Sat  spinning  by  his  bed. 
And  as  she  plied  the  distaff, 

In  a  sweet  voice  and  low, 
She  sang  of  great  old  houses, 

422.  By  Syria's  dark-browed  daughters.— The  weavers  and  purple- 
dyers  of  Tyre  and  the  other  Pheniciun  cities  were  famed  throughout  the 
ancient  world. 

423.  And  by  the  sails  of  Carthage  brought.— Carthage,  the  greatest 
of  the  Phenician  colonies  on  the  northern  coast  of  Africa,  was  destined 
to  contest  the  empire  of  the  world  with  Home,  and,  in  spite  of  the  heroism 
of  Hannibal,  the  first  general  of  any  land  or  age,  to  fail  in  the  task. 

429.  Their  leader  was  falsi^  Sextus.— The  reference  here  is  to  the 
deed  of  wickedness  perpetrated  by  Sextns  Tarquinius  against  Lucretia,  wife 
of  his  kinsman,  Tarquinius  Collatinus.  Lucretia  slew  herself  in  the  presence 
of  her  family;  and  the  crime  became,  according  to  the  legend,  the  immediate 
cauf^  of  the  downfall  of  the  Roman  monarchy. 


56  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT   ROME. 

And  fights  fought  long  ago. 
So  spun  she,  and  so  sang  she, 

Until  the  east  was  gray, 
Then  pointed  to  her  bleeding  breast, 

And  shrieked,  and  fled  away. 

XIII. 

But  in  the  center  thickest 

450  Were  ranged  the  shields  of  foes, 

And  from  the  center  loudest 

The  cry  of  battle  rose. 
There  Tiber  marched  and  Pedum 

Beneath  proud  Tarquin's  rule, 
And  Ferentiuum  of  the  rock, 

And  Gabii  of  the  pool. 
There  rode  the  Yolscian  succors ; 

There,  in  a  dark,  stern  ring, 
The  lioman  exiles  gathered  close 
46o  Around  the  ancient  king. 

Though  white  as  Mount  Sorac£e< 

When  winter  nights  are  long, 
His  beard  flowed  down  o'er  mail  and  belt, 

His  heart  and  hand  were  strong  : 
Under  his  hoary  eyebrows 

Still  flashed  forth  quenchless  rage, 
And,  if  the  lance  shook  in  his  gripe, 

'Twas  more  with  hate  than  age. 
Close  at  his  side  was  Titus 
47o  On  an  Apulian  steed, 

Titus,  the  yoitngest  Tarquin, 

Too  good  for  such  a  breed. 

XIV. 

Now  on  each  side  the  leaders 
Give  signal  for  the  charge  ; 

And  on  each  side  the  footmen 
Strode  on  with  lance  and  targe  ; 

And  on  each  side  the  horsemen 
Struck  their  spurs  deep  in  gore  ; 

And  front  to  front  the  armies 


THE  BATTLE  OP  THE  LAKE  EEGILLUS.       57 

Met  with  a  mighty  roar  :  480 

And  under  that  givat  buttle 

The  earth  with  blood  was  red  ; 
And,  like  the  Pomptine  fog  at  mom, 

The  dust  hung  overhead  ; 
And  louder  still  and  louder 

Rose  from  the  darkened  field 
The  braying  of  the  >var-horns, 

The  clang  of  sword  and  shield, 
The  rush  of  squadrons  sweeping 

Like  whirlwinds  o'er  the  plain,  49° 

The  shouting  of  the  slayers, 

And  screeching  of  the  slain. 

xv. 
False  Sextus  rode  out  foremost ; 

1 1  is  look  was  high  and  bold  ; 
His  corselet  was  of  bison's  hide, 

Plated  with  steel  and  gold. 
As  glares  the  famished  eagle 

From  the  Digentian  rock 
On  a  choice  lamb  that  bounds  alone 

Before  Bandusia's  flock,  500 

Herminius  glared  on  Sextus, 

And  came  with  eagle  speed, 
Herminius  on  black  Auster, 

Brave  champion  on  brave  steed  ; 
In  his  right  hand  the  broadsword 

That  kept  the  bridge  so  well, 
And  on  his  helm  the  crown  he  won 

When  proud  FideiuE  fell. 
Woe  to  the  maid  whose  lover 

Shall  cross  his  path  to-day  !  510 

False  Sextus  saw,  and  trembled, 

And  turned,  and  fled  away. 
As  turns,  as  flies,  the  woodman 

In  the  Calabrian  brake, 
When  through  the  reeds  gleams  the  round  eye 

423.  And,  like  the  Pomptine  fog  at  morn. — The  Pomptine  marshes 
extended  over  the  lowlands  of  Latium,  lying  between  Antium  and  Terracina. 


58  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT    ROME. 

Of  that  fell  speckled  ^snake  ; 
So  turned,  so  fled,  false  Sextus, 

And  hid  him  in  the  rear, 
Behind  the  dark  Lavinian  ranks, 
520  Bristling  with  crest  and  spear. 

xvr. 
But  far  to  north  ./Ebutius, 

The  Master  of  the  Knights, 
Gave  Tubero  of  Norba 

To  feed  the  Porcian  kites. 
Next  under  those  red  horse-hoofs 

Flaccus  of  Setia  lay  ; 
Better  had  he  been  pruning 

Among  his  elms  that  day. 
Mamilius  saw  the  slaughter, 
530  And  tossed  his  golden  crest, 

And  towards  the  Master  of  the  Knights 

Through  the  thick  battle  pressed. 
^Ebutius  smote  Mamilius 

So  fiercely  on  the  shield 
That  the  great  lord  of  Tusculum 

Well  nigh  rolled  on  the  field. 
Mamilius  smote  ^Ebutius, 

With  a  good  aim  and  true, 
Just  where  the  neck  and  shoulder  join, 

And  pierced  him  through  and  through  ; 
And  brave  ^Ebutius  Elva 

Fell  swooning  to  the  ground  : 
But  a  thick  wall  of  bucklers 

Encompassed  him  around. 
His  clients  from  the  battle 

Bare  him  some  little  space, 
And  filled  a  helm  from  the  dark  lake, 

And  bathed  his  brow  and  face  ; 
And  when  at  last  he  opened 

His  swimming  eyes  to  light, 


550 


522.  The    Master  of   the  Knights.— See    note  to  page  52,  ver.  viii. 
line  343. 


THE    BATTLE    OF    T1IK    I.AKi:    |>|-:«;i  1.1.1  ^.  ,V.) 

Men  say,  the  earliest  word  lie  spake 
Was,  "Friends,  how  goes  tin-  light?" 

XVH. 
But  meanwhile  in  the  center 

Great  deeds  of  arms  were  wrought ; 
There  Aulus  the  Dictator 

And  there  Valerius  fought. 
Aulus  with  his  good  broadsword 

A  bloody  passage  cleared 
To  where,  amidst  the  thickest  foes, 

lie  -a\v  the  long  white  beard.  y6o 

Flat  lighted  that  good  broadsword 

Upon  proud  Tarquin's  head. 
He  dropped  the  lance  :  he  dropped  the  reins : 

He  fel  as  fall  the  dead. 
Down  Aulus  springs  to  slay  him, 

With  eyes  like  coals  of  fire  ; 
But  faster  Titus  hath  sprung  down, 

And  hath  bestrode  his  sire. 
Latian  captains,  Roman  knights, 

Fast  down  to  earth  they  spring,  5?0 

And  hand  to  hand  they  fight  on  foot 

Around  the  ancient  king. 
First  Titus  gave  tall  Caeso 

A  death  wound  in  the  face  ; 
Tall  Ctcso  was  the  bravest  man 

Of  the  brave  Fabian  race  : 
Aulus  slew  Hex  of  Gabii, 

The  priest  of  Juno's  shrine: 
Valerius  smote  down  Julius, 

Of  Home's  great  Julian  line  ; 
Julius,  who  left  his  mansion 

High  on  the  Velian  hill, 
And  through  all  turns  of  weal  and  woe 

562.  Upon  proud  Tarquin's  head. — See  note  to  page  20,  line  86. 

580  Of  Koine's  great  Julian  line.— The  Julian  house  professed  to 
draw  it*-;  name  from  Julus  or  lulus,  son  of  Ascaniiis.  and  grandson  of  ."Kneas 
the  Trojan,  who  was  himself  a  son  of  Anchises  and  the  goddess  Aphrodite, 
called  by  the  Latins  Venus. 

B82.  liiKli  011  the  Velian  hill.— The  Velian  hill  was  one  of  seven  which 
belonged  to  a  Home  said  to  be  older  than  that  of  Romulus, 


60  LAYS    OP    ANCIENT   ROME. 

Followed  proud  Tarquiu  still. 
Now  right  across  proud  Tarquin 

A  corpse  was  Julius  laid  ; 
And  Titus  groaned  with  rage  and  grief, 

And  at  Valerius  made. 
Valerius  struck  at  Titus, 

590  And  lopped  off  half  his  crest ; 

But  Titus  stabbed  Valerius 

A  span  deep  in  the  breast. 
Like  a  mast  snapped  by  the  tempest, 

Valerius  reeled  and  fell. 
Ah  !  woe  is  me  for  the  good  house 

That  loves  the  people  well ! 
Then  shouted  loud  the  Latines  ; 

And  with  one  rush  they  bore 
The  struggling  Romans  backward 
600  Three  lances'  length  and  more : 

And  up  they  took  proud  Tarquin, 

And  laid  him  on  a  shield, 
And  four  strong  yeomen  bare  him. 

Still  senseless,  from  the  field. 

XVIII. 

But  fiercer  grew  the  fighting 

Around  Valerius  dead ; 
For  Titus  dragged  him  by  the  foot, 

And  Aulus  by  the  head. 
"On,  Latines,  on  !  "  quoth  Titus, 
6lo  "  See  how  the  rebels  fly  !  " 

"  Romans,  stand  firm  !  "  quoth  Aulus, 

"And  win  this  fight  or  die  1 
They  must  not  give  Valerius 

To  raven  and  to  kite  ; 
For  aye  Valerius  loathed  the  wrong, 

And  aye  upheld  the  right : 
And  for  your  wives  and  babies 

In  the  front  rank  he  fell. 
Now  play  the  men  for  the  good  house 

That  loves  the  people  well ! " 

6ao 


THE    BATTLE    OF    'I  I  IK    I.AKK    KKCILLUS.  61 

XIX. 

Then  tenfold  round  the  body 

The  roar  of  battle  rose, 
Like  the  roar  of  a  burning  forest, 

When  a  strong  north  wind  blows. 
Now  backward,  and  now  forward, 

Hocked  furiously  the  fray, 
Till  none  could  see  Valerius, 

And  none  wist  wliere  he  lay. 
For  shivered  arms  und  ensigns 

Were  heaped  there  in  a  mound,  630 

And  corpses  stiff,  and  dying  men 

That  writhed  and  gnawed  the  ground  ; 
And  wounded  horses  kicking, 

And  snorting  purple  foam  : 
Right  well  did  such  a  couch  befit 

A  Consular  of  Rome. 

xx. 

But  north  looked  the  Dictator  ; 

North  looked  he  long  and  hard  ; 
And  spake  to  Caius  Cossus, 

The  Captain  of  his  Guard  :  640 

"  Caius,  of  all  the  Romans 

Thou  hast  the  keenest  sight ; 
Say,  what  through  yonder  storm  of  dust 

Comes  from  the  Latiau  right?" 

XXI. 

Then  answered  Caius  Cossus 

"I  see  an  evil  sight ; 
The  banner  of  proud  Tusculum 

Comes  from  the  Laliau  right ; 
I  see  the  plumed  horsemen  ; 

And  far  before  the  rest  6SQ 

I  see  the  dark-gray  charger, 

C28.  And  none  wist  where  he  lay.— Wist,  the  preterite  tense  of  the 
old  English  verb  wit,  '  to  know.' 

636.  A  Consular  of  Rome.— Roman  citizens  who  had  filled  the  office 
of  Consuls  formed  the  class  of  Consulars. 


62  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT    ROME. 

I  see  the  purple  vest ; 
I  see  the  golden  helmet 

That  shines  far  off  like  flame  ; 
So  ever  rides  Mamilius, 

Prince  of  the  Latian  name." 

xxn.  V 

"Now  hearken,  Caius  Cossus: 
Spring  on  thy  horse's  back  ; 

Ride  as  the  wolves  of  Apennine 
660  Were  all  upon  thy  track  ; 

Haste  to  our  southward  battle  : 
And  never  draw  thy  rein 

Until  thou  find  Henninius, 
And  bid  him  come  amain." 

XXIII. 

So  Aulus  spake,  and  turned  him 

Again  to  that  fierce  strife  ; 
And  Caius  Cossus  mounted, 

And  rode  for  death  and  life. 
Loud  clanged  beneath  his  horse-hoofs 
6?a  The  helmets  of  the  dead, 

And  many  a  curdling  pool  of  blood 

Splashed  him  from  heel  to  head. 
So  came  he  far  to  southward, 

Where  fought  the  Roman  host, 
Against  the  banners  of  the  marsh 

And  banners  of  the  coast. 
Like  corn  before  the  sickle 

The  stout  Laviniaus  fell, 
Beneath  the  edge  of  the  true  sword 
6go  That  kept  the  bridge  so  well. 

XXIV. 

"  Herminius  !  Aulus  greets  thee  ; 

He  bids  thee  come  with  speed, 
To  help  our  central  battle  ; 

For  sore  is  there  our  need. 
There  wars  the  youngest  Tarquin, 


TIIK     KAIIIi:    OF    TIIK     l.AKI.     I;  I  .<  .  I  I.LUtt.  <>3 

Ami  there  the  ( 'rest  uf  Flame., 
The  Tn.seiilan  Mamilius, 

1'rince  of  the  Lalian  name 
Valerius  hath  fallen  fighting 

In  front  of  our  array  :  690 

And  Aulus  of  the  seventy  fields 

Alone  upholds  the  day." 

xxv. 
llrrininius  beat  his  bosom  : 

Hut  never  a  word  he  spake, 
lie  elapped  his  hand  on  Auster's  inane  • 

He  gave  the  reins  a  shake, 
Away,  away  went  Austcr, 

Like  an  arrow  from  the  bow 
Black  Austcr  was  the  Jlcetest  steed 

From  Aufidus  to  Po.  7<x> 

XXVI. 

Right  glad  were  all  the  Romans 

Who,  in  that  hour  of  dread, 
Against  great  odds  bare  up  the  war 

Around  Valerius  dead, 
When  from  the  south  the  cheering 

Rose  with  a  mighty  swell ; 
4 '  Henninius  comes,  Hermiuius, 

Who  kept  the  bridge  so  well ! " 

XXVII. 

Mamilius  spied  Henninius, 

And  dashed  across  the  way. 
"  Hermiuius  !  I  have  sought  thee 

Through  many  a  bloody  day. 
One  of  us  two,  Hermiuius, 

Shall  never  more  go  home. 
I  will  lay  on  for  Tusculum, 

And  lay  thou  on  for  Rome  !  " 

686.  And  there  the  Crest  of  Flame.— The  gleaming  crest  of  the  Latin 
chief. 

TOO.  From  Autidus  to  Po. — These  two  rivers  inclose  between  them 
the  whole  of  Italy,  from  the  center  of  the  vast  plain  of  Lombard  y  to  the 
scantier  space  of  open  land  round  Cannae,  where  the  genius  of  Hannibal  all 
but  achieved  the  destruction  of  the  Roman  power. 


64  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT    ROME. 

XXVIII. 

All  round  them  paused  the  battle, 

While  met  in  mortal  fray 
The  Roman  and  the  Tusculau, 
720  The  horses  black  and  gray. 

Her min ius  smote  Mamilius 

Through  breast-plate  and  through  breast ; 
And  fast  flowed  out  the  purple  blood 

Over  the  purple  vest. 
Mamilius  smote  Herminius 

Through  head-piece  and  through  head  ; 
And  side  by  side  those  chiefs  of  pride 

Together  fell  down  dead. 
Down  fell  they  dead  together 
730  In  a  great  lake  of  gore  ; 

And  still  stood  all  who  saw  them  fall 

While  men  might  count  a  score. 

XXIX. 

Fast,  fast,  with  heels  wild  spurning, 

The  dark-gray  charger  fled  : 
He  burst  through  ranks  of  fighting  men  ; 

He  sprang  o'er  heaps  of  dead. 
His  bridle  far  out- streaming, 

His  flanks  all  blood  and  foam, 
He  sought  the  southern  mountains, 
74o  The  mountains  of  his  home. 

The  pass  was  steep  and  rugged, 

The  wolves  they  howled  and  whined  ; 
But  he  ran  like  a  whirlwind  up  the  pass, 

And  he  left  the  wolves  behind. 
Through  many  a  startled  hamlet 

Thundered  his  flying  feet ; 
He  rushed  through  the  gate  of  Tusculuin, 

He  rushed  up  the  long  white  street ; 
He  rushed  by  tower  and  temple, 
750  And  paused  not  from  his  race 

Till  he  stood  before  his  master's  door' 

In  the  stately  market-place. 
And  straightway  round  him  gathered 


THE    BATTLE    OF    TI1K    I-AKK    IlKtilLLUS.  05 

A  pale  and  trembling  crowd. 
And  when  they  knew  him,  cries  of  rage 

Brake  forth,  and  wailing  loud  : 
And  women  relit  their  tresses 

For  their  great  prince's  full  ; 
And  old  men  girt  on  their  old  swords, 

And  went  to  man  the  wall.  i°° 

XXX. 

But,  like  a  graven  image. 

Black  Auster  kept  his  place, 
And  ever  wistfully  he  looked 

Into  his  muster's  face. 
The  raven-mane  that  daily, 

With  pats  and  fond  caresses. 
The  young  Hermiiiia  washed  and  combed 

And  twined  in  even  tresses, 
And  decked  with  colored  ribands 

From  her  own  gay  attire,  77° 

Hung  sadly  o'er  her  father's  corpse 

In  carnage  and  in  mire. 
Forth  with  a  shout  sprang  Titus, 

And  seized  black  Auster's  rein. 
Then  Aulus  sware  a  fearful  oath, 

And  ran  at  him  aiiiaiu. 
"The  furies  of  thy  brother 

With  me  and  mine  abide, 
If  one  of  your  accursed  house 

Upon  black  Auster  ride  !  "  78o 

As  on  an  Alpine  watch-tower 

From  heaven  comes  down  the  flame, 
,  Full  on  the  neck  of  Titus 

The  blade  of  Aulus  came  : 
And  out  the  red  blood  spouted, 

In  a  wide  arch  and  tall, 
As  spouts  a  fountain  in  the  court 

Of  some  rich  Capuan's  hall. 
The  knees  of  all  the  Latines 

777.  "The  furies  of  thy  brother."— The  Furies  were  goddesses  who 
exacted  vengeance  for  the  shedding  of  blood. 


G6  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT    ROME. 

79°  Were  loosened  with  dismay 

When  dead,  on  dead  Herminius, 
The  bravest  Tarquin  lay. 

XXXI. 

And  Aulus  the  Dictator 
Stroked  Auster's  raven  mane, 

With  heed  he  looked  unto  the  girths, 
With  heed  unto  the  rein. 

"  Now  bear  me  well,  black  Auster, 
Into  yon  thick  array  ; 

And  thou  and  I  will  have  revenge 
800  For  thy  good  lord  this  day." 

XXXII. 

So  spake  he  ;  and  was  buckling 

Tighter  black  Auster's  band, 
When  he  was  aware  of  a  princely  pair 

That  rode  at  his  right  hand. 
So  like  they  were,  no  mortal 

Might  one  from  other  know  : 
White  as  snow  their  armor  was  : 

Their  steeds  were  white  as  snow. 
Never  on  earthly  anvil 
810  Did  such  rare  armor  gleam  ; 

And  never  did  such  gallant  steeds 

Drink  of  an  earthly  stream. 

XXXIII. 

And  all  who  saw  them  trembled, 
And  pale  grew  every  cheek  ; 

And  Aulus  the  Dictator 

Scarce  gathered  voice  to  speak. 

' '  Say  by  what  name  men  call  you  ? 
What  city  is  your  home  ? 

And  wherefore  ride  ye  in  such  guise 
820  Before  the  ranks  of  Rome  ?  " 

XXXIV. 

"  By  many  names  men  call  us  ; 
In  many  lands  we  dwell : 

804.  That  rode  at  his  right  hand.— See  note  to  line  241. 


Tin:    BATTLE    OF    T1IK    I.AKK    REGILLU8.  67 

Well  Samothracia  knows  us ; 

Gyrene  knows  us  well. 
Our  house  in  gay  Tamil um 

Is  hung  each  morn  with  flowers  : 
High  oYr  the  masts  of  Syracuse 

Our  marble  portal  towers  ; 
But  by  the  proud  Eurotas 

Is  our  dear  native  home ;  830 

And  for  the  right  we  come  to  fight 

Before  the  ranks  of  Rome." 

XXXV. 

So  answered  those  strange  horsemen, 

And  each  couched  low  his  spear  ; 
And  forthwith  all  the  ranks  of  Ro'me 

Were  bold,  and  of  good  cheer  : 
And  ou  the  thirty  armies 

Came  wonder  and  affright, 
And  Ardea  wavered  on  the  left, 

And  Cora  on  the  right.  840 

"Rome  to  the  charge  !  "  cried  Aulus  ; 

"  The  foe  begins  to  yield  ! 
Charge  for  the  hearth  of  Vesta  ! 

Charge  for  the  Golden  Shield  ! 
Let  no  man  stop  to  plunder, 

But  slay,  and  slay,  and  slay ; 
The  Gods  who  live  for  ever 

Are  on  our  side  to-day." 


823.  Well  Samothracia  knows  us — Samothracia,  one  of  the  four 
northernmost  islands  of  the  Egean  Sea 

8-,'4.  Cyreiie  knows  us  well.— Cyrene  was  the  most  splendid  of  the  many 
Greek  col«  'nies  on  the  northern  coast  of  Africa. 

825.  Our  house  in  gay  Tarentum.—  Tarentum.  in  its  Greek  form, 
Taras,  was  one  of  the  wealthiest  cities  belonging  to  that  wonderful  cluster 
of  Greek  colonies  which  won  for  the  southern  portion  of  the  Italian  peninsula 
the  name  of  Great  Greece. 

827.  High  o'er  the  masts  of  Syracuse.— The  great  Dorian  city  of 
Sicily  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the  island. 

829.  But  hy  the  proud  Eurotas.— See  note  to  line  251. 

843.  Charge  for  the  hearth  of  Vesta  '.—See  note  to  "  Horatius,"  line  313. 

844.  Charge    for  the    Golden    Shield !— The  golden   shield  of    Mars, 
which  fell  from  heaven  in  the  days  of  Numa  Pompilius,  the  second  of  the 
legendary  Roman  kings. 


68  LAYS    OP   ANCIENT   ROME. 

<      XXXVI. 

Then  the  fierce  trumpet-flourish 
From  earth  to  heaven  arose. 

050 

The  kites  know  well  the  long  stern  swell 

That  bids  the  Romans  close. 
Then  the  good  sword  of  Aulus 

Was  lifted  up  to  slay  : 
Then,  like  a  crag  down  Apennine, 

Rushed  Auster  through  the  fray. 
But  under  those  strange  horsemen 

Still  thicker  lay  the  slain  ; 
And  after  those  strange  horses 
860  Black  Auster  toiled  in  vain. 

Behind  them  Rome's  long  battle 

Came  rolling  on  the  foe, 
Ensigns  dancing  wild  above, 

Blades  all  in  line  below. 
So  comes  the  Po  in  flood-time 

Upon  the  Celtic  plain  : 
So  comes  the  squall,  blacker  than  night, 

Upon  the  Adrian  main. 
Now,  by  our  Sire  Quirinus, 
87o  It  was  a  goodly  sight 

To  see  the  thirty  standards 

Swept  down  the  tide  of  flight. 
So  flies  the  spray  of  Adria 

When  the  black  squall  doth  blow, 
So  corn-sheaves  in  the  flood -time 

Spin  down  the  whirling  Po. 
False  Sextus  to  the  mountains 

Turned  first  his  horse's  head  ; 
880  And  fast  fled  Ferentinum, 

And  fast  Lanuvium  fled. 
The  horsemen  of  Nomentum 

Spurred  hard  out  of  the  fray  ; 
The  footmen  of  Velitrae 

Threw  shield  and  spear  away. 

869.  Now,  by  our  Sire  Quirinus. — According  to  Livy,  Quirinus  was 
the  name  under  which  divine  honors  were  paid  to  Romulus  after  his  as- 
sumption into  heaven.  The  notion  cannot  be  traced  much  farther  back  than 
the  time  of  the  historian  himself. 


THE  BATTLE  OF  THE  LAKE  REGILLUS.        69 

And  underfoot  was  trampled, 

Amidst  the  mud  and  gore, 
The  banner  of  proud  Tusculum, 

That  never  stooped  before  : 
And  down  went  Flavins  Fanstus, 

Who  led  his  stately  ranks  8()° 

From  where  the  apple  blossoms  wave 

On  Anio's  echoing  banks, 
And  Tul lus  of  Arpinnm, 

Chief  of  the  Volsciau  aids, 
And  Metins  with  the  long  fair  curls, 

The  love  of  Anxur'^  maids, 
And  the  white  head  of  Vulso, 

The  great  Ariciau  seer, 
And  Nepos  of  Laurentum, 

The  hunter  of  the  deer  ;  900 

And  in  the  black  false  Sextus 

Felt  the  good  Roman  steel, 
And  wriggling  in  the  dust  he  died, 

Like  a  worm  beneath  the  wheel : 
And  fliers  and  pursuers 

Were  mingled  in  a  mass  ; 
And  far  away  the  battle 

Went  roaring  through  the  pass. 

XXXVII. 

Sempronius  Atratinus 

Sate  in  the  Eastern  Gate,  9IO 

Beside  him  were  three  Fathers, 

Each  in  his  chair  of  state ; 
Fabius,  whose  nine  stout  grandsons 

That  day  were  in  the  field, 
And  Manlius,  eldest  of  the  Twelve 

Who  kept  the  Golden  Shield  ; 
And  Sergius,  the  High  Pontiff, 

915  And  >Iaiilius,  eldest  of  the  Twelve.— Twelve  Patricians,  who 
formed  an  ecclesiastical  corporation  under  the  name  of  Salii,  were 
chosen  as  guardians  of  the  twelve  Ancilia  or  sacred  shields  of  Mars.  Only 
one  of  these  was  genuine,  and  this  one  fell  from  heaven  in  the  days  of  the 
peaceful  and  righteous  king  Numa;  the  other  eleven  were  made  precisely 
like  it.  to  prevent  the  risk  of  its  being  lost  by  theft. 

917.  And  SiM-gius,  the  High  Pontiff.— The  Romans  connected  the 
name  of  Pontifex,  or  Pontiff,  with  the  making  of  bridges  (Pontes);  but 
Pontiflces  are  found  in  many  places  where  there  were  no  bridges  to  be  built. 


70  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT    ROME. 

For  wisdom  far  renowned  ; 
In  all  Etruria's  colleges 

920  Was  no  such  Pontiff  found. 

And  all  around  the  portal, 

And  high  above  the  wall, 
Stood  a  great  throng  of  people, 

But  sad  and  silent  all  ; 
Young  lads,  and  stooping  elders 

That  might  not  bear  the  mail, 
Matrons  with  lips  that  quivered, 

And  maids  with  faces  pale. 
Since  the  first  gleam  of  daylight, 
930  Sempronius  had  not  ceased 

To  listen  for  the  rushing 

Of  horse-hoofs  from  the  east. 
The  mist  of  eve  was  rising, 

The  sun  was  hastening  down, 
When  he  was  aware  of  a  princely  pair 

Fast  pricking  towards  the  town. 
So  like  they  were,  man  never 

Saw  twins  so  like  before  ; 
Red  with  gore  their  armor  was, 
940  Their  steeds  were  red  with  gore. 

XXXVIII. 

"  Hail  to  the  .great  Asylum  ! 

Hail  to  the  hill-tops  seven  ! 
Hail  to  the  fire  that  burns  for  aye, 

And  the  shield  that  fell  from  heaven  I 
This  day,  by  Lake  Regillus, 

Under  the  Porcian  height, 
All  in  the  lands  of  Tusculum 

919.  In  all   Etruria's  colleges.— The  communities  of  Etruscan  seers 
or  sorcerers.    See  note  to  "  Horatius,"  page  23,  line  149 

941.  Hail   to  the  great  Asylum  ! — The   Asylum,   according  to    Livy, 
was  a  place  where  Romulus,  in  order  to  get  inhabitants  for  his  new  city, 
promised  a  sure  refuge  to  vagabonds  and  knaves.    The  word  is  Greek,  not 
Latin,  and  means  an  inviolable  sanctuary.    The  notion  which  transferred 
the  sacredness  of  the  shrine  to  men  who  were  forbidden  to  enter  it  was 
probably  of  late  growth. 

942.  Hail  to  the  hill-tops  seven  !— The  seven  hills  of  Rome,  commonly 
reckoned  as  the  Quirinal.  Viminal,  Esquiline,  Coelian,  Aventine,  Palatine, 
and  Capitoline  hills.    But  the  earlier  Rome  stood  on  another  set  of  seven 
hills,  known  by  the  names  Palatium,  Velia,  Cermalus,  Ccelius,  Fagutal, 

.Oppius,  and  Cispius. 


THE    BATTLE    OF   THE    LAKE    REGiLLUS.  71 

Was  fought  a  glorious  fight, 
To-morrow  your  Dictator 

Shall  bring  in  triumph  home  950 

The  spoils  of  thirty  cities 

To  deck  the  shrines  of  Rome  ! " 

XXXIX. 

Then  burst  from  that  great  concourse 

A  shout  that  shook  the  towers, 
And  some  ran  north,  and  some  ran  south, 

Crying,  "  The  day  is  ours  !  " 
But  on  rode  these  strange  horsemen, 

With  slow  and  lordly  pace  ; 
And  none  who  saw  their  bearing 

Durst  ask  their  name  or  race.  96o 

On  rode  they  to  the  Forum, 

While  laurel  boughs  and  flowers, 
From  house-tops  and  from  windows, 

Fell  on  their  crests  in  showers. 
.     When  they  drew  nigh  to  Vesta, 

They  vaulted  down  amain, 
And  washed  their  horses  in  the  well 

That  springs  by  Vesta's  fane. 
And  straight  again  they  mounted, 

And  rode  to  Vesta's  door  ;  970 

Then,  like  a  blast,  away  they  passed, 

And  no  man  saw  them  more. 

XL 
And  all  the  people  trembled, 

And  pale  grew  every  check  ; 
And  Sergius  the  High  Pontiff 

Alone  found  voice  to  speak.: 
"  The  gods  who  live  for  ever 

Have  fought  for  Rome  to-day  ! 
These  be  the  Great  Twin  Brethren 

965.  When  they  drew  nigh  to  Vesta — See  note  to  page  29,  line  313. 
The  Latin  Vesta  is  the  same  word  as  the  Greek  Hestia,  and  denoted  the 
sacred  hearth  with  its  heaven-sent  fire.  Each  city,  each  tribe,  each  clan, 
each  house,  had  its  own  inviolable  hearth,  and  the  flame  which  burned  upon 
it  was  the  symbol  and  pledge  of  kindliness  and  good  faith,  of  law  and  order, 
of  wealth  and  fair  dealing.  The  goddess  can  scarcely  be  separated  in 
thought  from  the  fire  and  the  hearth  which  were  consecrated  to  her.  It  may 
safely  be  said  that  of  no  other  deity  was  the  worship  so  nearly  an  unmixed 
blessing 


72  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   ROME. 

980  To  whom  the  Dorians  pray. 

Back  comes  the  Chief  in  triumph, 

Who,  in  the  hour  of  fight, 
Hath  seen  the  Great  Twin  Brethren 

In  harness  on  his  right. 
Safe  comes  the  ship  to  haven, 

Through  billows  and  through  gales, 
If  once  the  Great  Twin  Brethren 

Sit  shining  on  the  sails. 
Wherefore  they  washed  their  horses 
99o  In  Vesta's  holy  well, 

Wherefore  they  rode  to  Vesta's  door, 

I  know,  but  may  not  tell. 
Here,  hard  by  Vesta's  Temple, 

Build  we  a  stately  dome 
Unto  the  Great  Twin  Brethren 

Who  fought  so  well  for  Rome. 
And  when  the  months  returning 

Bring  back  this  day  of  fight, 
The  proud  Ides  of  Quintilis, 
1000  Marked  evermore  with  white, 

Unto  the  Great  Twin  Brethren 

Let  all  the  people  throng, 
With  chaplets  and  with  offerings, 

With  music  and  with  song  ; 
And  let  the  doors  and  windows 

Be  hung  with  garlands  all, 
And  let  the  Knights  be  summoned 

To  Mars  without  the  wall : 
Thence  let  them  ride  in  purple 
i  ioo  With  joyous  trumpet-sound, 

Each  mounted  on  his  war-horse, 

And  each  with  olive  crowned  ; 
And  pass  in  solemn  order 

Before  the  sacred  dome, 
Where  dwell  the  Great  Twin  Brethren 

Who  fought  so  well  for  Rome  !  " 

980.  To  whom  the  Dorians  pray. — The  Dorians  and  lonians  were  the 
two  foremost  branches  of  the  Hellenic  or  Greek  race.  At  the  head  of  the 
former  were  the  Spartans,  at  the  head  of  the  latter  the  Athenians. 

1008.  To  Mars  without  the  wall.— See  note  to  line  2i!7. 


VIRGINIA. 

A  COLLECTION  consisting^  exclusively  of  war-songs  would 
give  an  imperfect,  or  rather  an  erroneous,  notion  of  the  spirit 
of  the  old  Latin  ballads.  The  Patricians,  during  more  than  a 
century  after  the  expulsion  of  the  Kings,  held  all  the  high 
military  commands.  A  Plebeian,  even  though,  like  Lucius 
Siccius,  he  were  distinguished  by  his  valor  and  knowledge  of 
war,  could  serve  only  in  subordinate  posts.  A  minstrel,  there- 
fore, who  wished  to  celebrate  the  early  triumphs  of  his  country, 
could  hardly  take  any  but  Patricians  for  his  heroes.  The 
warriors  who  are  mentioned  in  the  two  preceding  lays,  Hora- 10 
tins,  Lartius,  Herminius,  Aulus  Posthumius,  ^Ebutius  Elva, 
Sempronius  Atratinus,  Valerius  Poplicola,  were  all  members 
of  the  dominant  order;  and  a  poet  who  was  singing  their 
praises,  whatever  his  own  political  opinions  might  be,  would 
naturally  abstain  from  insulting  the  class  to  which  they  be- 
longed, and  from  reflecting  on  the  system  which  had  placed 
such  men  at  the  head  of  the  legions  of  the  Commonwealth. 

But  there  was  a  class  of  compositions  in  which  the  great 
families  were  by  no  means  so  courteously  treated.  No  parts 
of  early  Koman  history  are  richer  with  poetical  coloring  than  20 
those  which  relate  to  the  long  contest  between  the  privileged 
houses  and  the  commonalty.  The  population  of  Kome  was, 
from  a  very  early  period,  divided  into  hereditary  castes,  which, 
indeed,  readily  united  to  repel  foreign  enemies,  but  which 
regarded  each  other,  during  many  years,  with  bitter  animosity. 
Between  those  castes  there  was  a  barrier  hardly  less  strong 
than  that  which,  at  Venice,  parted  the  members  of  the  Great 
Council  from  their  countrymen.  In  some  respects,  indeed, 
the  line  which  separated  an  Icilius  or  a  Duilius  from  a  Pos- 
thumius or  a  Fabius  was  even  more  deeply  marked  than  that  30 

73 


74  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   BOMB. 

which  separated  the  rower  of  a  gondola  from  a  Contarini  or  a 
Morosini.  At  Venice  the  distinction  was  merely  civil.  At 
Home  it  was  both  civil  and  religious.  Among  the  grievances 
under  which  the  Plebeians  suffered,  three  were  felt  as  peculiar- 
ly severe  :  they  were  excluded  from  the  highest  magistracies ; 
they  were  excluded  from  all  share  in  the  public  lands;  and 
they  were  ground  down  to  the  dust  by  partial  and  barbarous 
legislation  touching  pecuniary  contracts.  The  ruling  class  in 
Rome  was  a  moneyed  class;  and  it  made  and  administered  the 

4o  laws  with  a  view  solely  to  its  own  interest.  Thus  the  relation 
between  lender  and  borrower  was  mixed  up  with  the  relation 
between  sovereign  and  subject.  The  great  men  held  a  large 
portion  of  the  community  in  dependence  by  means  of  advances 
at  enormous  usury.  The  law  of  debt,  framed  by  creditors,  and 
for  the  protection  of  creditors,  was  the  most  horrible  that  has 
ever  been  known  among  men.  The  liberty,  and  even  the  life, 
of  the  insolvent  were  at  the  mercy  of  the  Patrician  money- 
leaders. Children  often  became  slaves  in  consequence  of  the 
misfortunes  of  their  parents.  The  debtor  was  imprisoned,  not 

5o  in  a  public  jail  under  the  care  of  impartial  public  functionaries, 
but  in  a  private  workhouse  belonging  to  the  creditor.  Fright- 
ful stories  were  told  respecting  these  dungeons.  It  was  said 
that  torture  and  brutal  violation  were  common ;  that  tight 
stocks,  heavy  chains,  scanty  measures  of  food,  were  used  to 
punish  wretches  guilty  of  nothing  but  poverty ;  and  that 
brave  soldiers,  whose  breasts  were  covered  with  honorable 
scars,  were  often  marked  still  more  deeply  on  the  back  by  the 
scourges  of  high-born  usurers. 
The  Plebeians  were,  however,  not  wholly  without  constitu- 

60  tional  rights.  From  an  early  period  they  had  been  admitted 
to  some  share  of  political  power.  They  were  enrolled  each  in 
his  century,  and  were  allowed  a  share,  considerable,  though 
not  proportioned  to  their  numerical  strength,  in  the  disposal 
of  those  high  dignities  from  which  they  were  themselves  ex- 
cluded. Thus  their  position  bore  some  resemblance  to  that  of 
the  Irish  Catholics  during  the  interval  between  the  year  1792 
and  the  year  1829.  The  Plebeians  had  also  the  privilege  of 
annually  appointing  officers,  named  Tribunes,  who  had  no 


VIRGINIA.  75 

active  share  in  tin-  government  of  the  Commonwealth,  but  who, 
by  delves,  acquired  a  power  formidable  even  to  the  ables!  and  70 

most  resolute  Consuls  and  Dictators.  Tin- person  of  (he  Tribune 
was  inviolable;  and  though  lie  could  directly  effect  little,  he 
could  obstruct  everything. 

During  more  than  a  century  after  the  institution  of  the 
Tribuneship,  the  Commons  struggled  manfully  for  the  removal 
of  the  grievances  under  which  they  labored;  and,  in  spite  of 
many  checks  and  reverses,  succeeded  in  wringing  COUCCSMOU 
after  concession  from  the  stubborn  aristocracy.  At  length  in 
the  year  of  the  city  378,  both  parties  mustered  their  whole 
strength  for  their  last  and  most  desperate  conflict.  Thepopu-80 
lar  and  active  Tribune,  Cains  Licinins,  proposed  the  three 
memoraf)le  laws  which  are  called  by  his  name,  and  which 
were  intended  to  redress  the  three  great  evils  of  which  the 
Plebeians  complained.  He  was  supported,  with  eminent  ability 
and  firmness,  by  his  colleague,  Lucius  Sextius.  The  struggle 
appears  to  have  been  the  fiercest  that  ever  in  any  community 
terminated  without  an  appeal  to  arms.  If  such  a  contest  had 
raged  in  any  Greek  city,  the  streets  would  have  run  with  blood, 
But,  even  in  the  paroxysms  of  faction,  the  Roman  retained 
his  gravity,  his  respect  for  law,  and  his  tenderness  for  the  lives  90 
of  his  fellow-citizens.  Year  after  year  Licinius  and  Sextius 
were  re-elected  Tribunes.  Year  after  year,  if  the  narrative 
which  has  come  down  to  us  is  to  be  trusted,  they  continued  to 
exert,  to  the  full  extent,  their  power  of  stopping  the  whole 
machine  of  government.  No  curule  magistrates  could  be 
chosen;  no  military  muster  could  be  held.  We  know  too  little 
of  the  state  of  Rome  in  those  days  to  be  able  to  conjecture 
how,  during  that  long  anarchy,  the  peace  was  kept,  and  ordin- 
ary justice  administered  between  man  and  man.  The  animos- 
ity of  both  parties  rose  to  the  greatest  height.  The  excite- «» 
ment,  we  may  well  suppose,  would  have  been  peculiarly  in- 
tense at  the  annual  election  of  Tribunes.  On  such  occasions 
there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  great  families  did  all  that 
could  be  done,  by  threats  and  caresses,  to  break  the  union  of 
the  Plebeians.  That  union,  however,  proved  indissoluble.  At 
length  the  good  cause  triumphed.  The  Licinian  laws  were 


70  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT    ROME. 

carried.     Lucius  Sextius  was  the  first  Plebeian  Consul,  Cams 
Licinius  the  third. 
The  results  of  this  great  change  were  singularly  happy  and 

,IO  glorious.  Two  centuries  of  prosperity,  harmony,  and  victory 
followed  the  reconciliation  of  the  orders.  Men  who  remembered 
Rome  engaged  in  waging  petty  wars  almost  within  sight  of  the 
Capitol  lived  to  see  her  the  mistress  of  Italy.  While  the  dis- 
abilities of  the  Plebeians  continued,  she  was  scarcely  able  to 
maintain  her  ground  against  the  Volscians  and  Hernicans. 
When  those  disabilities  were  removed,  she  rapidly  became 
more  than  a  match  for  Carthage  and  Macedon. 

During  the  great  Licinian  contest  the  Plebeian  poets  were, 
doubtless,  not  silent.     Even  in  modern  times  songs  have  been 

120  by  no  means  without  influence  on  public  affairs;  and 'we  may 
therefore  infer  that,  in  a  society  where  printing  was  unknown, 
and  where  books  were  rare,  a  pathetic  or  humorous  party - 
ballad  must  have  produced  effects  such  as  we  can  but  faintly 
conceive.  It  is  certain  that  satirical  poems  were  common  at 
Rome  from  a  very  early  period.  The  rustics,  who  lived  at  a 
distance  from  the  seat  of  government,  and  took  little  part  in 
the  strife  of  factions,  gave  vent  to  their  petty  local  animosities 
in  coarse  Fescennine  verse.  The  lampoons  of  the  city  were 
doubtless  of  a  Jiigher  order;  and  their  sting  was  early  felt  by 

13°  the  nobility.  For  in  the  Twelve  Tables,  long  before  the  time 
of  the  Licinian  laws,  a  severe  punishment  was  denounced 
against  the  citizen  who  should  compose  or  recite  verses  reflect- 
ing on  another.  *  Satire  is,  indeed,  the  only  sort  of  composi- 
tion in  which  the  Latin  poets,  whose  works  have  come  down 
to  us,  were  not  mere  imitators  of  foreign  models;  and  it  is 
therefore  the  only  sort  of  composition  in  which  they  have 
never  been  rivaled.  It  was  not,  like  their  tragedy,  their 
comedy,  their  epic  and  lyric  poetry,  a  hot-house  plant  which,  in 
return  for  assiduous  and  skillful  culture,  gave  only  scanty  and 

140  sickly  fruits.  It  was  hardy  and  full  of  sap;  and  in  all  the  vari- 
ous juices  which  it  yielded  might  be  distinguished  the  flavor 


*  Cicero  justly  infers  from  this  law  that  there  had  been  early  Latin  poets 
whose  works  had  been  lost  before  his  time. 


VIRGINIA.  77 

of  the  Ausonian  soil.  "  Sat  in-,"  says  Quinctilian,  with  just 
pride,  "is  all  our  own."  Satire  sprang,  in  truth,  naturally 
from  tlic  constitution  of  tin-  Ionian  government  and  from  the 
spirit  of  the  Roman  people;  and,  though  at  length  subjected 
to  metrical  rules  derived  from  (ireece,  retained  to  the  last 
an  essentially  Roman  character.  Lucilius  was  the  earliest 
satirist  whose  works  were  held  in  esteem  under  the  Caesars. 
But  many  years  before  Lucilius  was  born,  Naevius  had  been 
tlun^  into  a  dungeon,  and  guarded  there  with  circumstances  150 
of  unusual  rigor,  on  account  of  the  bitter  lines  in  which  he  had 
attacked  the  i^reat  Caecilian  family.  The  genius  and  spirit  of 
the  Uoman  satirist  survived  the  liberty  of  their  country,  and 
were  not  extinguished  by  the  cruel  despotism  of  the  Julian  and 
Flavian  Emperors.  The  great  poet  who  told  the  story  of  Do- 
mitian's  turbot  was  the  legitimate  successor  of  those  forgotten 
minstrels  whose  songs  animated  the  factions  of  the  infant  Re- 
public. 

These  minstrels,  as  Niebuhr  has  remarked,  appear  to  have 
generally  taken  the  popular  side.  We  can  hardly  be  mistaken  160 
in  supposing  that,  at  the  great  crisis  of  the  civil  conflict,  they 
employed  themselves  in  versifying  all  the  most  powerful 
and  virulent  speeches  of  the  Tribunes,  and  in  heaping  abuse 
on  the  leaders  of  the  aristocracy.  Every  personal  defect, 
every  domestic  scandal,  every  tradition  dishonorable  to  a  noble 
house,  would  be  sought  out,  brought  into  notice,  and  exag- 
gerated. The  illustrious  head  of  the  aristocratical  party,  Mar- 
cus Furius  Camillus,  might  perhaps  be,  in  some  measure,  pro- 
tected by  his  venerable  age  and  by  the  memory  of  his  great 
services  to  the  State.  But  Appius  Claudius  Crassus  enjoyed 
no  such  immunity.  He  was  descended  from  a  long  line  of 
ancestors  distinguished  by  their  haughty  demeanor,  and  by  the 
inflexibility  with  which  they  had  withstood  all  the  demands  of  '?<> 
the  Plebeian  order.  While  the  political  conduct  and  the 
deportment  of  the  Claudian  nobles  drew  upon  them  the  fiercest 
public  hatred,  they  were  accused  of  wanting,  if  any  credit  is 
due  to  the  early  history  of  Rome,  a  class  of  qualities  which,  in 
the  military  commonwealth,  is  sufficient  to  cover  a  multitude 
of  offenses.  The  chiefs  of  the  family  appear  to  have  been 


78  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT    ROME. 

180  eloquent,  versed  in  civil  business,  and  learned  after  the  fashion 
of  their  age;  but  in  war  they  were  not  distinguished  by  skill  or 
valor.  Some  of  them,  as  if  conscious  where  their  weakness 
lay,  had,  when  filling  the  highest  magistracies,  taken  internal 
administration  as  their  department  of  public  business,  and  left 
the  military  command  to  their  colleagues.*  One  of  them  had 
been  intrusted  with  an  army,  and  had  failed  ignominiously.t 
None  of  them  had  been  honored  with  a  triumph.  None  of 
them  had  achieved  any  martial  exploit,  such  as  those  by  which 
Lucius  Quinctius  Cincinnatus,  Titus  Quinctius  Capitolinus, 

X9o  Aulus  Cornelius  Cossus,  and,  above  all,  the  great  Camillus, 
had  extorted  the  reluctant  esteem  of  the  multitude.  During 
the  Licinian  conflict,  Appius  Claudius  Crassus  signalized  him- 
self by  the  ability  and  severity  with  which  he  harangued 
against  the  two  great  agitators.  He  would  naturally,  there- 
fore, be  the  favorite  mark  of  the  Plebeian  satirists;  nor  would 
they  have  been  at  a  loss  to  find  a  point  on  which  he  was  open 
to  attack. 

His  grandfather,  called,  like  himself,  Appius  Claudius,  had 
left  a  name  as  much  detested  as  that  of  Sextus  Tarquinius. 

200  This  elder  Appius  had  been  Consul  more  than  seventy  years 
before  the  introduction  of  the  Licinian  laws.  By  availing 
himself  of  a  singular  crisis  in  public  feeling,  he  had  obtained 
the  consent  of  the  Commons  to  the  abolition  of  the  Tribune- 
ship,  and  had  been  the  chief  of  that  Council  of  Ten  to  which 
the  whole  direction  of  the  State  had  been  committed.  In  a 
few  months  his  administration  had  become  universally  odious. 
It  had  been  swept  away  by  an  irresistible  outbreak  of  popular 
fury;  and  its  memory  was  still  held  in  abhorrence  by  the  whole 
city.  The  immediate  cause  of  the  downfall  of  this  execrable 

210  government  was  said  to  have  been  an  attempt  made  by  Appius 
Claudius  upon  the  chastity  of  a  beautiful  young  girl  of  humble 
birth.  The  story  ran  that  the  Decemvir,  unable  to  succeed  by 
bribes  and  solicitations,  resorted  to  an  outrageous  act  of 
tyranny.  A  vile  dependent  of  the  Claudian  house  laid  claim 
to  the  damsel  as  his  slave.  The  cause  was  brought  before  the 

*  In  the  years  of  the  city  260,  304,  and  330. 
fin  the  year  of  the  city  283. 


V  I  Ki ;  I  M  A  .  79 

tribunal  of  Appius.  Tho  wicked  magistrate,  in  defiance  of  the 
clearest  proofs,  gave  judgment  for  i  ho  Claimant.  But  the  girl's 
father,  a  brave  soldier,  saved  her  from  servitude  and  dis- 
honor by  stabbing  her  to  the  heart  in  the  sight  of  the  whole 
Forum.  That  blow  was  the  signal  for  a  general  explosion.  aao 
Camp  and  city  rose  at  once;  the  Ten  were  pulled  down;  the 
Tribuneship  was  re-established;  and  Appius  escaped  the  hands 
of  the  executioner  only  by  a  voluntary  death. 

It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  a  story  so  admirably  adapted 
to  the  purposes  both  of  the  poet  and  of  the  demagogue  would 
be  eagerly  seized  upon  by  minstrels  burning  with  hatred 
against  the  Patrician  order,  against  the  Claudian  house,  and 
especially  against  the  grandson  and  namesake  of  the  infamous 
Decemvir. 

In  order  that  the  reader  may  judge  fairly  of  these  fragements  230 
of  the  lay  of  Virginia,  he  must  imagine  himself  a  Plebeian  who 
has  just  voted  for  the  re-election  of  Sextius  and  Licinius.  All 
the  power  of  the  Patricians  has  been  exerted  to  throw  out  the 
two  great  champions  of  the  Commons.  Every  Posthumius, 
^Emilius,  and  Cornelius  has  used  his  influence  to  the  utmost. 
Debtors  have  been  let  out  of  the  workhouses  on  condition  of 
voting  against  the  men  of  the  people;  clients  have  been  posted 
to  hiss  and  interrupt  the  favorite  candidates.  Appius  Claudius 
Crassus  has  spoken  with  more  than  his  usual  eloquence  and 
asperity:  all  has  been  in  vain;  Licinius  and  Sextius  have  a  fifth  240 
time  carried  all  the  tribes;  work  is  suspended;  the  booths  are 
closed;  the  Plebeians  bear  on  their  shoulders  the  two  cham- 
pions of  liberty  through  the  Forum.  Just  at  this  moment  it 
is  announced  that  a  popular  poet,  a  zealous  adherent  of  the 
Tribunes,  has  made  a  new  song  which  will  cut  the  Claudian 
nobles  to  the  heart.  The  crowd  gathers  round  him,  and  calls 
on  him  to  recite  it.  He  takes  his  stand  on  the  spot  where, 
according  to  tradition,  Virginia,  more  than  seventy  years  ago, 
was  seized  by  the  pandar  of  Appius,  and  he  begins  his  story. 


Virginia. 

FRAGMENTS  OF  A  LAY  SUNG  IN  THE  FORUM  ON  THE  DAY  WHEREON 
LUCIUS  SEXTJUS  SEXTINUS  LATERANUS  AND  CAIU8  LICINIUS 
CALVUS  STOLO  WERE  ELECTED  TRIBUNES  OF  THE  COMMONS  THE 
FIFTH  TIME,  IN  THE  YEAR  OF  THE  CITY  CCCLXXXII. 

250  YE  good  men  of  the  Commons,  with  loving  hearts  and  true, 
Who  stand  by  the  bold  Tribunes  that  still  have  stood  by  you, 
Come,  make  a  circle  round  me,  and  mark  my  tale  with  care, 
A  tale  of  what  Rome  once  hath  borne,  of  what  Rome  yet  may 

bear. 

This  is  no  Grecian  fable,  of  fountains  running  wine, 
Of  maids  with  snaky  tresses,  or  sailors  turned  to  swine. 
Here,  in  this  very  Forum,  under  the  noonday  sun, 
In  sight  of  all  the  people,  the  bloody  deed  was  done. 
Old  men  still  creep  among  us  who  saw  that  fearful  day, 
Just  seventy  years  and  seven  ago,  when  the  wicked  Ten  bare 

sway. 

260     Of  all  the  wicked  Ten'still  the  names  are  held  accursed  ; 
And  of  all  the  wicked  Ten,  Appius  Claudius  was  the  worst. 

251.  Who  stand  by  the  bold  Tribunes.— See  note  to  "Horatius," 
line  351. 

254.  Of  fountains   running   wine.— The  Homeric  hymn   to  Dionysos 
(Bacchus)  tells  how  the  purple  stream  of  wine  ran  along  the  decks  of  the 
ship  on  board  of  which  the  god  was  imprisoned. 

255.  Of  maids   with    snaky    tresses — These  are  the  Furies  and  the 
Gorgons,  of  whom  two  were  immortal;  the  third.  Medusa,  was  mortal,  and 
was  slain  by  Perseus,  who  brought  her  head,  with  its  snake-locks,  to  Athene. 
The  goddess  placed  it  on  her  aegis. 

255.  Or  sailors  turned  to  swine.— By  the  magic  potions  of  Kirk§ 
(Circe).  See  note  to  "  Battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus,1"  line  389. 

259.  When  the  wicked  Ten  bare  sway.— The  Decemvirs,  who  are  said 
to  have  been  appointed  about  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  B.C.,  to  carry 
out  the  legal  reforms  rendered  necessary  by  the  concessions  made  by  the 
Patricians  to  the  Plebs. 

261.  Appius  Claudius  was  the  worst.— The  Claudian  gens  or  clan, 
one  of  the  most  illustrious  in  Rome,  traced  its  origin  to  the  mythical  Sabine, 
Attus  Clausus,  the  friend  of  ^Eneas.  They  had  now,  according  to  the  story, 
been  in  Rome  for  about  half  a  century. 

80 


VIRr.INIA.  81 

He  stalked  along  the  Forum  like  King  Tarquin  in  his  pride  : 

Twelve  axes  waited  on  him,  six  marching  on  a  side  ; 

The  townsmen  shrank  to  right  and  left,  and  eyed  askance  with 

fear 
His  lowering  brow,  his  curling  inouth,  which  always  seemed  to 

sneer : 
That  brow  of  hate,  that  mouth  of  scorn,  marks  all  the  kindred 

still ; 

For  never  was  there  Claudius  yet  but  wished  the  Commons  ill : 
Nor  lacks  he  fit  attendance  ;  for  close  behind  his  heels, 
With  outstretched  chin  and  crouching  pace,  the  client  Marcus 

steals, 

His  loins  girt  up  to  run  with  speed,  be  the  errand  what,  it  may,     270 
And  the  smile  flickering  on  his  cheek  for  aught  his  lord  may 

say. 

Such  varlets  pimp  and  jest  for  hire  among  the  lying  Greeks : 
Such  varlets  still  are  paid  to  hoot  when  brave  Licinius  speaks. 
Where'er  ye  shed  the  honey,  the  buzzing  flies  will  crowd  ; 
Where'er  ye  fling  the  carrion,  the  raven's  croak  is  loud  ; 
Where'er  down  Tiber  garbage  floats,  the  greedy  pike  ye  see  ; 
And  whereso'er  such  lord  is  found,  such  client  still  will  be. 

Just  then,  as  through  one  cloudless  chink  in  a  black  stormy  sky, 
Shines  out  the  dewy  morning-star,  a  fair  young  girl  came  by. 
With  her  small  tablets  in  her  hand,  and  her  satchel  on  her  arm,    280 
Home  she  went  bounding  from  ihe  school,  nor  dreamed  of  shame 

or  harm  ; 

And  past  those  dreaded  axes  she  innocently  ran, 
With  bright,  frank  brow  that  had  not  learned  to  blush  at  gaze  of 

man  ; 

263.  Twelve  axes  waited  011  him. — Each  of  the  Decemvirs  was  at- 
tended by  the  same  number  of  lictoi-s  to  which  each  Consul  was  entitled. 
See  note  to  "  Battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus,"  line  352. 

273.  When  brave  Liciiiius  speaks. — Livy  mentions  a  Licinius  as  one 
of  the  first  Tribunes  of  the  people.  Another,  Spurius  Licinius,  is  by  other 
historians  called  Icilius.  Later  on  in  the  history  than  the  time  to  which  the 
Decemvirs  belonged,  some  of  the  Liciuii  became  prominent  through  their 
laws  for  dealing  with  the  subject  of  debt. 

277.  Such  clients  still  will  be. -With  reference  to  the  Patrician  or 
dominant  class  in  the  state,  all  members  of  the  Plebs  were  clients  bound  to 
perform  special  services,  in  return  for  which  they  received  protection  from 
their  masters  or  patrons,  especially  in  the  event  of  legal  prosecutions.  There 
was  thus  no  distinct  class  of  Plebeians  who  were  not  clients;  butevil-rninded 
Patricians  would  probably  find  no  difficulty  in  gathering  round  themselves 
bodies  of  Plebeian  retainers  ready  to  do  their  will  against  their  fellow- 
Plebeians. 


82  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT    HOME. 

And  up  the  Sacred  Street  she  turned,  and,  as  she  danced  along, 
She  warbled  gayly  to  herself  lines  of  the  good  old  song, 
How  for  a  sport  the  princes  came  spurring  from  the  camp, 
And  found  Lucrece,  combing  the  fleece,  under  the  midnight 

lamp. 

The  maiden  sang  as  sings  the  lark,  when  up  he  darts  his  flight, 
From  his  nest  in  the  green  April  corn,  to  meet  the  morning  light ; 
290  And  Appius  heard  her  sweet  young  voice,  and  saw  her  sweet 

young  face, 

And  loved  her  with  the  accursed  love  of  his  accursed  race, 
And  all  along  the  Forum,  and  up  the  Sacred  Street, 
His  vulture  eye  pursued  the  trip  of  those  small  glancing  feet. 

Over  the  Albau  mountains  the  light  of  morning  broke  ; 
From  all  the  roofs  of  the  Seven  Hills  curled  the  thin  wreaths  of 

smoke : 

The  city-gates  were  opened  ;  the  Forum  all  alive, 
With  buyers  and  with  sellers  was  humming  like  a  hive  : 
Blithely  on  brass  and  timber  the  craftsman's  stroke  was  ringing, 
And  blithely  o'er  her  panniers  the  market-girl  was  singing, 

300  And  blithely  young  Virginia  came  smiling  from  her  home  : 
Ah  !  woe  for  young  Virginia,  the  sweetest  maid  in  Rome  ! 
With  her  small  tablets  in  her  hand,  and  her  satchel  on  her  arm, 
Forth  she  went  bounding  to  the  school,  nor  dreamed  of  shame  of 

harm. 

She  crossed  the  Forum  shining  with  stalls  in  alleys  gay, 
And  just  had  reached  the  spot  whereon  I  stand  this  day, 
When  up  the  varlet  Marcus  came  ;  not  such  as  when  erewhile 
He  crouched  behind  his  patron's  heels  with  the  true  client  smile : 
He  came  with  lowering  forehead,  swollen  features,  and  clenched 

fist, 
And  strode  across  Virginia's  path,  and  caught  her  by  the  wrist. 

3io  Hard  strove  the  frighted  maiden,  and  screamed  with  look  aghast ; 

284.  And  up  tlie  Sacred  Street.— The  Via  Sacra,  leading  into  the 
Forum. 

287.  And  found  Lucrece.— See  note  to  "  Battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus," 
line  429. 

292.  And  all  along  the  Forum. — The  Roman  Forum  was  built  on  some 
marshy  or  swampy  ground  between  the  Palatine  and  Capitoline  hills.  Tradi- 
tion assigned  its  erection  to  Romulus  and  the  Sabine  Titus  Tatius. 

295.  From  all  the  roofs  of  the  Seven  Hills.— See  note  to  "  Battle  of 
the  Lake  Regillus,"  line  942. 

307.  He  crouched  behind  his  patron's  heels. — See  note  277. 


VIRGINIA..  83 

And  at  her  scream  from  right  and  left  the  folk  came  running  fast ; 

Tin1  money-changer  Crispus,  with  his  thin  silver  hail's, 

And  Ilunno  from  the  stately  booth  glittering  with  Punic  wares, 

And  the  strong  smith  Mur.-cna,  grasping  a  half-forged  brand, 

And  Volero  the  llesher.  his  cleaver  in  his  hand. 

All  came  in  wrath  and  wonder  ;  for  all  knew  that  fair  child  ; 

And,  as  she  passed  them  twice  a  day,  all  kissed  their  hands  and 

smiled  ; 

And  the  strong  smith  Murrenagave  Marcus  such  a  blow, 
The  caitiff  reeled  three  paces  back,  and  let  the  maiden  go. 
Yet  glared  he  fiercely  round  him,  and  growled  in  harsh,  fell  320 

tone, 

"  She's  mine,  and  I  will  have  her :  I  seek  but  for  mine  own  : 
She  is  my  slave,  born  in  my  house,  and  stolen  away  and  sold, 
The  year  of  the  sore  sickness,  ere  she  was  twelve  hours  old. 
'Twas  in  the  sad  September,  the  month  of  wail  and  fright. 
Two  augurs  were  borne  forth  that  morn  ;  the  Consul  died  ere 

night. 

I  wait  on  Appius  Claudius,  I  waited  on  his  sire  : 
Let  him  who  works  the  client  wrong  beware  the  patron's  ire  !" 

So  spake  the  varlet  Marcus  ;  and  dread  and  silence  came 
On  all  the  people  at  the  sound  of  the  great  Claudian  name. 
For  then  there  was  no  Tribune  to  speak  the  word  of  might,  330 

Which  makes  the  rich  man  tremble,  and  guards  the  poor  man's 

right. 

There  was  no  brave  Licinius,  no  honest  Sextius  then  ; 
But  all  the  city,  in  great  fear,  obeyed  the  wicked  Ten. 
Yet  ere  the  varlet  Marcus  again  might  seize  the  maid, 
Who  clung  tight  to  Munena's  skirt,  and  sobbed,  and  shrieked  for 

aid, 


313.  And  I l;iiino  from  the  stately  booth.— Hanno,  it  is  scarcely 
necessary  to  say,  would  not  be  a  Roman  citizen,  but  a  Carthaginian  or 
T.vrian  alien  resident  in  Rome.  His  name  appears  again  in  that  of  Hannibal, 
which  is  a  compound  of  Hanno  with  Baal,  Bel,  a  lord. 

325.  Two  augurs  were  borne  forth  that  morn. — A  name  given  to 
seers  who  drew  omens  from  the  flight  of  birds  or  from  examining  their 
intestines  after  sacrifice. 

330.  For  then  there  was  no  Tribune.— The  reference  is  to  the  alleged 
suspension  of  the  constitution  and  all  its  ordinary  offices  while  the  Decemvirs 
were  engaged  in  the  \vork  of  legal  reformation. 

:;:}•„'.  No  honest  Sextius  then. — Among  the  Tribunes  of  the  people  Li  vy 
mentions  one  Sextius,  who  proposed  the  sending  of  a  colony  to  Bola. 


84  LAYS    OP   ANCIENT   ROME. 

Forth  through  the  throng  of  gazers  the  young  Icilius  pressed, 
And  stamped  his  foot,  and  rent  his  gown,  and  smote  upon  his 

breast, 

And  sprang  upon  that  column,  by  many  a  minstrel  sung, 
Whereon  three  molderiug  helmets,   three    rusting  swords,  are 

hung. 
340  And  beckoned  to  the  people,  and  in  bold  voice  and  clear 

Poured  thick  and  fast  the  burning  words  which  tyrants  quake  to 

hear. 


"  Now,  by  your  children's  cradles,  now  by  your  father's  graves, 
Be  men  to-day,  Quirites,  or  be  forever  slaves  ! 
For  this  did  Servius  give  us  laws?    For  this  did  Lucrece  bleed? 
For  this  was  the  great  vengeance  wrought  on  Tarquin's  evil  seed? 
For  this  did  those  false  sons  make  red  the  axes  of  their  sire? 
For  this  did  Scaevola's  right  hand  hiss  in  the  Tuscan  fire? 
Shall  the  vile  fox-earth  awe  the  race  that  stormed  the  lion's  den? 
Shall  we,  who  could  not  brook  one  lord,  crouch  to  the  wicked 

Ten? 

350  Oh  for  that  ancient  spirit  which  curbed  the  Senate's  will ! 
Oh  for  the  tents  which  in  old  time  whitened  the  Sacred  Hill ! 
In  those  brave  days  our  fathers  stood  firmly  side  by  side ; 


J536.  The  young  Icilius  pressed. — According  to  the  story, Virginia  was 
betrothed  to  Icilius,  who  had  filled  the  office  of  Plebeian  Tribune. 

343.  Be  men  to-day,  Quirites. — The  word  Quirites  may  have  some  con- 
nection with  the  Patrician  Curise;  that  it  is  closely  connected  with  the  name 
Quirinus  is  obvious. 

344.  For   this  did  Servius  give  us  laws. — Servius  Tullius,  the  constitu- 
tional king,  whose  legislation  associated  all  Roman  citizens  in  their  military 
capacity,  came  between  Tarquinius  Priscusand  his  son  Tarquinius  Superbus, 
to  whom  he  owed  his  death. 

346.  For  this  did  those  false  sons. — The  two  sons  of  Brutus,  the  citizen 
who  was  elected  Consul  with  Tarquinius  Collatinus  immediately  after  the 
expulsion  of  Tarquin  the  Proud,  were  beheaded  by  their  father's  order  for 
conspiring  to  restore  the  tyrant  to  his  power. 

347.  For  this  did  Scaevola's  right  hand.— Q.  Mucius  Scaevola  having 
determined  to  murder  Porsenna  (see  '•  Horatius,"  line  99),  made  his  way  into 
his  camp,  and  there  murdered  his  secretary  by  mistake.    Learning  his 
error,  he  thrust  his  hand  into  a  brazier,  to  show  how  little  he  cared  for  tor- 
ture, and  then  told  the  king  that  he  had  no  less  than  300  fellow-conspirators. 
Alarmed  at  the  risks  which  he  was  running,  the  Etruscan  chief  proposed,  it 
is  said,  to  make  peace  with  the  Romans. 

351.  Whitened  the  Sacred  Hill.— The  scene  of  the  secession  of  the 
Plebs,  three  miles  from  Rome.  This  secession  preceded  the  recognition  of 
the  Tribunes  as  officers  of  the  Roman  state. 


VIRGINIA.  85 

They  faced  the  Marcian  fury ;  they  tamed  the  Fabian  pride  ; 
They  drove  the  fiercest  Quinctius  an  outcast  forth  from  Rome  ; 
They  sent  the  haughtiest  Claudius  with  shivered  fasces  home. 
But  what  their  care  bequeathed  us  our  madness  flung  away  : 
All  the  ripe  fruit  of  threescore  years  was  blighted  in  a  day. 
Exult,  ye  proud  Patricians  !     The  hard-fought  fight  is  o'er. 
We  strove  for  honors — 'twas  in  vain  :  for  freedom — 'tis  no  more. 
No  crier  to  the  polling  summons  the  eager  throng  ; 
No  Tribune  breathes  the  word  of  might  that  guards  the  weak 

from  wrong. 
Our  very  hearts,  that  were  so  high,  sink  down  beneath  your 

will. 
Riches,  and  lands,  and  power,  and  state— ye  have  them:— keep 

them  still. 

Still  keep  the  holy  fillets  ;  still  keep  the  purple  gown, 
The  axes  and  the  curule  chair,  the  car,  and  laurel  crown  : 
Still  press  us  for  your  cohorts,  and,  when  the  fight  is  done, 
Still  fill  your  garners  from  the  soil  which  our  good  swords  have 

won. 
Still,  like  a  spreading  ulcer,  which  leech-craft  may  not  cure, 

353.  They  faced  the  Marcian  fury. — The  story  related  by  Livy  tells  us 
that  Cains  Mareius,  a  young  Patrician,  called  Coriolauus  from  having  con- 
quered the  town  of  Corioli,  was  banished  for  contempt  of  the  magistrates, 
and  taking  service  with  the  Volscians,  reduced  the  Romans  to  extremities, 
from  which  they  were  delivered  only  by  the  intercession  of  his  mother  and 
the  Roman  matrons.    His  exclamation  on  yielding  to  their  prayer  was,  it  is 
said,  "  Mother,  thou  hast  saved  Rome,  but  ruined  thy  son!" 

&53.  They  tamed  the  Fabian  pride.—  A  reference  to  the  troops  of  Caeso 
Fnhius,  who  refused  to  storm  the  camp  of  the  enemy,  and  so,  by  leaving  the 
victory  incomplete,  deprived  the  general  of  his  triumph. 

354.  They  drove  the  fiercest   Qiiiiietius. — L.   Quinctius   Cincinnatus, 
according  to  the  story  of  Livy,  was  a  violent  opponent  of  the  Plebeians,  and 
was  li  implied  in  consequence. 

355.  They  sent  the   haughtiest    Claudius     with  shivered   fasces 
home. — The  reference  is  to  a  riot  in  which,  about  a  hundred  years  before 
tin-  time  at  which  this  lay  is  supposed  to  have  been  recited,  the  head  of  the 
Appian  geiis  or  clan  had  been  roughly  treated  by  the  mob. 

3G4.  Still  keep  the  holy  fillets — The  fillet  was  worn  by  priests  and 
priestesses ;  and  priesthood  was  confined  strictly  to  the  Patrician  class. 

364.  Still  keep  the  purple  gown.— The  trabea,    a  toga  of  purple  and 
white,  was  worn  by  the  Consuls  and  knights  in  public  solemnities. 

365.  The  axes — See  note  to  "  Battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus,"  line  352. 

365.  The  curule  chair,  the  car,  and  laurel  crown.— The  Sella  Curulis, 
or  chair  of  state,  had  been  strictly  an  emblem  of  royalty.    After  the  expul- 
sion of  the  kings,  the  right  of  using  it  was  conferred  on  the  chief  Patrician 
magistrates.    The  car  was  used  by  the  Consuls  when  triumphing  as  Roman 
generals  over  their  enemies.    At  the  same  time  they  wore  a  wreath  or  gar- 
hind  of  laurel. 

366.  Still  press  us  for  your  cohorts.— Every  Roman  legion  was  made 
up  of  ten  cohorts;  but  as  the  number  of  men  in  a  legion  varied  from  time  to 
time,  that  of  the  cohorts  was  also  uncertain. 


86  LAYS   OF   ANCIENT   ROME. 

Let  your  foul  usance  eat  away  the  substance  of  the  poor. 
370  Still  let  your  haggard  debtors  bear  all  their  fathers  bore  ; 
Still  let  your  dens  of  torment  be  noisome  as  of  yore  ; 
No  fire  when  Tiber  freezes  ;  no  air  in  dog-star  heat ; 
And  store  of  rods  for  free-born  backs,  and  holes  for  free-born 

feet. 

Heap  heavier  Still  the  fetters  ;  bar  closer  still  the  grate  ; 
Patient  as  sheep  we  yield  us  up  unto  your  cruel  hate. 
But,  by  the  Shades  beneath  us,  and  by  the  Gods  above, 
Add  not  unto  your  cruel  hate  your  yet  more  cruel  love  ! 
Have  ye  not  graceful  ladies,  whose  spotless  lineage  springs 
From  Consuls,  and  High  Pontiffs,  and  ancient  Alban  kings? 
38o  Ladies,  who  deign  not  on  our  paths  to  set  their  tender  feet, 

Who  from  their  cars  look  down  with  scorn  upon  the  wondering 

street, 

Who  in  Corinthian  mirrors  their  own  proud  smiles  behold. 
And  breathe  of  Capuan  odors,  and  shine  with  Spanish  gold? 
Then  leave  the  poor  Plebeian  his  single  tie  to  life — 
The  sweet,  sweet  love  of  daughter,  of  sister,  and  of  wife, 
The  gentle  speech,  the  balm  for  all  that  his  vexed  soul  endures, 
The  kiss,  in  which  he  half  forgets  even  such  a  yoke  as  yours. 
Still  let  the  maiden's  beauty  swell  the  father's  breast  with  pride  ; 
Still  let  the  bridegroom's  arms  infold  an  unpolluted  bride. 
390  Spare  us  the  inexpiable  wrong,  the  unutterable  shame, 

That  turns  the  coward's  heart  to  steel,  the  sluggard's  blood  to 

flame, 
Lest,  when  our  latest  hope  is  fled,  ye  taste  of  our  despair, 


369.  Let  your  foul  usance.— One  of  the  chief  grievances  against  which 
the  Plebeians  struggled  in  their  contests  with  the  ruling  class  was  the  severity 
of  the  law  of  debt,  which  not  only  made  repayment  of  loans  difficult  or  im- 
practicable, but  left  the  person  of  the  debtor  at  the  mercy  of  the  creditor, 
who  might  shut  him  up  fettered  in  a  private  prison  or  dungeon,  and  even 
sell  him  into  slavery.  See  note  to  page  HI,  line  217. 

379.  From  Consuls. — See  note  to   "  Horatius,"  line  225. 

379.  And  High  Pontiffs — See  note  to  "  Battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus," 
line  917. 

379.  And  ancient  Alban  kings. — The  Latin  kings  of  Alba  Longa,  whose 
rule  came  to  an  end,  according  to  the  story,  with  the  destruction  of  the  city 
by  the  orders  of  the  third  Roman  king,  Tullus  Hostilius.  See  note  to  "Battle 
of  the  Lake  Regillus,"  line  305. 

382.  Who  in   Corinthian  mirrors. — The  luxury  of  Corinth  passed  into 
proverbs,  which  spoke  of  it  as  beyond  the  reach  of  any  except  a  favored  few. 

383.  And  breathe  of  Capuan  odors. — Capua  was  the  great  city  of  the 
rich  Campanian  plain,  the  pleasures  of  which  are  supposed  to  have  been 
fatal  to  the  efficiency  of  the  army  of  Hannibal. 


VIRGINIA.  87 

And  learn  by  proof,  iu  some  wild  hour,  how  much  the  wretched 

dare." 


Straightway  Virginias  led  the  maid  a  lit  lie  spare  aside, 
To  where  ihe  reeking  shambles  stood,  piled  up  with  horn  and 

hide. 

Close  to  yon  low  dark  archway,  where,  in  a  crimson  flood, 
Leaps  down  to  the  great  sewer  the  gurgling  stream  of  blood. 
Hard  by,  a  flesher  on  a  block  had  laid  his  whittle  down  : 
Virginias  caught  the  whittle  up,  and  hid  it  in  his  gown. 
And  then  his  eyes  grew  very  dim,  and  his  throat  began  to  swell,  400 
And  in  a  hoarse,  changed  voice  he  spake,  "  Farewell,  sweet  child  ! 

Farewell ! 

Oh  !  how  I  loved  my  darling  !     Though  stern  I  sometimes  l>e, 
To  thee,  thou  kuowst  I  was  not  so.     Who  could  be  so  to  thee? 
And  how  my  darling  loved  me  !     How  glad  she  was  to  hear 
My  footstep  on  the  threshold  when  I  came  back  last  year ! 
And  how  she  danced  with  pleasure  to  see  my  civic  crown, 
And  took  my  sword,  and  hung  it  up,  and  brought  me  forth  my 

gown ! 

Now,  all  those  things  are  over — yes,  all  thy  pretty  ways, 
Thy  needlework,  thy  prattle,  thy  snatches  of  old  lays  ; 
And  none  will  grieve  when  1  go  forth,  or  smile  when  I  return,      4i0 
Or  watch  beside  the  old  man's  bed,  or  weep  upon  his  urn. 
The  house  that  was  the  happiest  within  the  Roman  walls, 
The  house  that  envied  not  the  wealth  of  Capua's  marble  halls, 
Now.  for  the  brightness  of  thy  smile,  must  have  eternal  gloom  ; 
And  for  the  music  of  thy  voice,  the  silence  of  the  tomb. 
The  time  is  come.     See  how  he  points  his  eager  hand  this  way  ! 
See  how  his  eyes  gloat  on  thy  grief,  like  a  kite's  upon  the  prey ! 
With  all  his  wit,  he  little  deems,  that,  spurned,  betrayed,  bereft 
Thy  father  hath  in  his  despair  one  fearful  refuge  left. 

406.  To  see  my  civic  crown.— The  civic  crown,  composed  of  the  leaves 
of  three  different  sorts  of  oak,  was  bestowed  upon  a  Roman  soldier  who  had 
saved  the  life  of  another  citizen  in  battle  by  slaying  his  opponent.    It  was 
originally  conferred  by  the  hands  of  the  rescued  man. 

407.  And  brought    m«>  forth  my  grown.—  The  toga  was  the  distinctive 
dress  of  the  Roman  citizen,  and  thus  the  Romans  were  known  as  the  gens 
toqata  or  gown-wearing  people.     On  reaching  manhood,  youths,  who  had 
thus  far  worn  the  toga  prcetexta  or  purple-hemmed  gown,  p«:t  on  the  toga 
ivrilis,  which  was  simply  white. 


88  LAYS   OF   ANCIENT  ROME. 

420  He  little  deems  that  in  this  hand  I  clutch  what  still  can  save 
Thy  gentle  youth  from  taunts  and  blows,  the  portion  of  the  slave  ; 
Yea,  and  from  nameless  evil,  that  passeth  taunt  and  blow — 
Foul  outrage  which  thou  knowest  not,  which  thou  shalt  never 

know. 
Then  clasp  me  round  the  neck  once  more,  and  give  me  one  more 

kiss; 

And  now,  mine  own  dear  little  girl,  there  is  no  way  but  this." 
With  that  he  lifted  high  the  steel,  and  smote  her  in  the  side, 
And  in  her  blood  she  sank  to  earth,  and  with  one  sob  she  died. 

Then,  for  a  little  moment,  all  people  held  their  breath  ; 
And  through  the  crowded  Forum  was  stillness  as  of  death  ; 
430  And  in  another  moment  brake  forth  from  one  and  all 
A  cry  as  if  the  Yolscians  were  coming  o'er  the  wall. 
'Some  with  averted  faces,  shrieking,  fled  home  amain ; 
Some  ran  to  call  a  leech  ;  and  some  ran  to  lift  the  slain  : 
Some  felt  her  lips  and  little  wrist,  if  life  might  there  be  found  ; 
And  some  tore  up  their  garments  fast,  and  strove  to  stanch  the 

wound. 

In  vain  they  ran,  and  felt,  and  stanched  ;  for  never  truer  blow 
That  good  right  arm  had  dealt  in  fight  against  a  Volscian  foe. 

When  Appius  Claudius  saw  that  deed,  he  shuddered  and  sank 

down, 

And  hid  his  face  some  little  space  with  the  corner  of  his  gown, 
440  Till,  with  white  lips  and  bloodshot  eyes,  Virgiuius  tottered  nigh, 
And  stood  before  the  judgment-seat,  and  held  the  knife  on  high. 
"  Oh  !  dwellers  in  the  nether  gloom,  avengers  of  the  slain, 
By  this  dear  blood  I  cry  to  you,  do  right  between  us  twain  ; 
And  even  as  Appius  Claudius  hath  dealt  by  me  and  mine, 
Deal  you  by  Appius  Claudius  and  all  the  Claudian  line  !" 
So  spake  the  slayer  of  his  child,  and  turned,  and  went  his  way  ; 
But  first  he  cast  one  haggard  glance  to  where  the  body  lay, 
And  writhed,  and  groaned  a  fearful  groan,  and  then,  with  stead- 
fast feet, 
Strode  right  across  the  market-place  unto  the  Sacred  Street. 

45o  Then  up  sprang  Appius  Claudius  :  "  Stop  him  ;  alive  or  dead  ! 
Ten  thousand  pounds  of  copper  to  the  man  who  brings  his  head." 
He  looked  upon  his  clients  ;  but  none  would  work  his  will. 


VIRGINIA.  89 

He  looked  upon  his  lictors  ;  but  they  trembled,  and  stood  still. 
And,  ;is  Virgin ius  through  the  press  his  way  in  silence  clcl'l, 
Ever  the  mighty  multitude  fell  back  to  right  and  left. 
And  he  hath  passed  in  safety  unto  his  woful  home, 
And  there  ta'eii  horse  to  tell  the  camp  what  deeds  are  done  in 
Rome. 

By  this  the  flood  of  people  was  swollen  from  every  side, 
And  streets  and  porches  round  were  filled  with  that  o'erflowiug 

tide  ; 

And  close  around  the  body  gathered  a  little  train  460 

Of  them  that  were  the  nearest  and  dearest  to  the  slain. 
They  brought  a  bier,  and  hung  it  with  many  a  cypress  crown, 
And  gently  they  uplifted  her,  and  gently  laid  her  down. 
The  face  of  Appius  Claudius  wore  the  Claudian  scowl  and  sneer. 
And  in  the  Claudian  note  he  cried,  "  What  doth  this  rabble  here? 
Have  they  no  crafts  to  mind  at  home,  that  hitherward  they  stray? 
Ho  !  lictors,  clear  the  market-place,  and  fetch  the  corpse  away  !" 
The  voice  of  grief  and  fury  till  then  had  not  been  loud  ; 
But  a  deep  sullen  murmur  wandered  among  the  crowd, 
Like  the  moaning  noise  that  goes  before  the  whirlwind  on  the  470 

deep, 

Or  the  growl  of  a  fierce  watch-dog  but  half -aroused  from  sleep. 
But  when  the  lictors  at  that  word,  tall  yeomen  all  and  strong, 
Each  with  his  ax  and  sheaf  of  twigs,  went  down  into  the  throng, 
Those  old  men  say,  who  saw  that  day  of  sorrow  and  of  sin, 
That  in  the  Roman  Forum  was  never  such  a  din. 
The  wailing,  hooting,  cursing,  the  howls  of  grief  and  hate, 
Were  heard  beyond  the  Pinciau  Hill,  beyond  the  Latin  Gate. 
But  close  around  the  body,  where  stood  the  little  train 
Of  them  that  were  the  nearest  and  dearest  to  the  slain, 
No  cries  were  there,  but  teeth  set  fast,  low  whispers  and  black  480 

frowns, 

And  breaking  up  of  benches,  and  girding  up  of  gowns. 
'Twas  well  the  lictors  might  not  pierce  to  where  the  maiden  lay, 
Else  surely  had  they  been,  all  twelve  torn  limb  from  limb  that 

day. 

477.  Beyond  the  Pincian  Hill.— This  hill  lies  to  the  north  of  the  MODS 
Quirinalis,  and  therefore  was  beyond  the  wall  which  bore  the  name  of  Ser- 
vius  Tullius. 


90  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   ROME. 

Right  glad  they  were  to  struggle  back,  blood  streaming  from 

their  heads, 

With  axes  all  in  splinters,  and  raiment  all  in  shreds. 
Then  Appius  Claudius   gnawed  his  lip,  and  the   blood  left  his 

cheek ; 
And  thrice  he  beckoned  with  his  hand,  and  thrice  he  strove  to 

speak ; 

And  thrice  the  tossing  Forum  set  up  a  frightful  yell  ; 
"See,  see,  thou  dog  !  what  thou  hast  done  ;  and  hide  thy  shame 

in  hell  I 
490  Thou  that  wouldst  make  our  maidens  slaves  must  first  make  slaves 

of  men. 

Tribunes  !  Hurrah  for  Tribunes  !  Down  with  the  wicked  Ten  !" 
And  straightway,  thick  as  hailstones,  came  whizzing  through  the 

air 

Pebbles,  and  bricks,  and  potsherds,  all  round  the  curule  chair : 
And  upon  Appius  Claudius  great  fear  and  trembling  came  ; 
For  never  was  a  Claudius  yet  brave  against  aught  but  shame. 
Though  the  great  houses  love  us  not,  we  own,  to  do  them  right. 
That  the  great  houses,  all  save  one,  have  borne  them  well  in  tight. 
Still  Caius  of  Corioli,  his  triumphs  and  his  wrongs, 
His  vengeance  and  his  mercy,  live  in  our  camp-fire  songs. 
500  Beneath  the  yoke  of  Furius  oft  have  Gaul  and  Tuscan  bowed  ; 
And  Rome  may  bear  the  pride  of  him  of  whom  herself  is  proud. 
But  evermore  a  Claudius  shrinks  from  a  stricken  field, 
And  changes  color  like  a  maid  at  sight  of  sword  and  shield. 
The  Claudian  triumphs  all  were  won  within  the  city  towers  ; 
The  Claudian  yoke  was  never  pressed  on  any  necks  but  ours. 
A  Cossus,  like  a  wild  cat,  springs  ever  at  the  face  ; 
A  Fabius  rushes  like  a  boar  against  the  shouting  chase  ; 

498.  Still  Caius  of  Corioli.— See  note  to  line  353.  The  first  syllable  in 
Corioli  must  be  pronounced  long. 

500.  Beneath  the  yoke  of  Furius.— The  Furian  gens  or  clan  is  supposed 
to  have  belonged  originally  to  Tusculum.  The  most  distinguished  member 
of  this  gens  was  M.  Furius  Camillas,  the  deliverer  of  Rome  from  the  Gauls. 

506.  A  Cossus,  like  a  wild  cat. — Cossus  was  the  cognomen  or  surname 
of  a  house  belonging  to  the  gens  Cornelia.    Somewhat  later  than  the  time 
of  the  Decemvirs,  Servius  Cornelius  Cossus  killed  in  battle  Lars  Tolumuius, 
the  king  of  Veii,  and  won  the  spolia  opima,  which,  it  is  said,  were  obtained 
by  only  two  other  Romans  during  the  whole  course  of  Roman  history. 

507.  A  Fabius  rushes  like  a  boar. — The  Fabian  gens  had  always  been 
noted  for  their  bravery  and  public  spirit.    The  almost  total  destruction  of 
the  clan  at  the  Cremera  by  the  Veientines  was  the  most  celebrated  incident 
in  the  traditions  of  the  family. 


vim;  IMA.  91 

lint  the  vile  Claudian  litter,  raging  with  currish  spile, 

Still  yelps  ami  snaps  at  those  who  run,  still  runs  from  those  who 

smite. 

So  now  'twas  seen  of  Appius.     When  stones  began  to  fly,  5'° 

lie  shook,  and  crouched,  and  wrung  his  hands,  and  smote  upon 

his  thigh. 

"  Kind  clients,  honest  lictors,  stand  by  me  in  this  fray  ! 
Must  I  be  torn  in  pieces?    Home,  home,  the  nearest  way  I" 
While  yet  he  spake,  and  looked  around  with  a  bewildered  stare. 
Four  sturdy  lictors  put  their  necks  beneath  the  curule  chair  ; 
And  fourscore  clients  on  the  left,  and  fourscore  on  the  right, 
Arrayed  themselves  with  swords  and  staves,  and  loins  girt  up  for 

tight. 

But,  though  without  or  staff  or  sword,  so  furious  was  the  throng 
That  scarce  the  train  with  might  and  main  could  bring  their  lord 

along. 
Twelve  times  the  crowd  made  at  him  ;  five  times  they  seized  his  520 

gown  ; 

Small  chance  was  his  to  rise  again,  if  once  they  got  him  down  : 
And  sharper  came  the  pelting  ;  and  evermore  the  yell — 
"  Tribunes  !  we  will  have  Tribunes  !"— rose  with  a  louder  swell : 
And  the  chair  tossed  as  tosses  a  bark  with  tattered  sail 
When  raves  the  Adriatic  beneath  an  eastern  gale, 
When  the  Calabrian  sea-marks  are  lost  in  clouds  of  spume, 
And  the  great  Thunder-Cape  has  donned  his  veil  of  inky  gloom. 
One  stone  hit  Appius  in  the  mouth,  and  one  beneath  the  ear  ; 
And  ere  he  reached  Mount  Palatine,  he  swooned  with  pain  and 

fear. 

His  cursed  head,  that  he  was  wont  to  hold  so  high  with  pride,      530 
Now,  like  a  drunken  man's,  hung  down,  and  swayed  from  side 

to  side ; 

And  when  his  stout  retainers  had  brought  him  to  his  door, 
His  face  and  neck  were  all  one  cake  of  filth  and  clotted  gore. 
As  Appius  Claudius  was  that  day,  so  may  his  grandson  be  ! 
God  send  Rome  one  such  other  sight,  and  send  me  there  to  see  ! 


527.  And  the  great  Thunder-Cape.— The  Acroceraunian  promontory 
on  the  eastern  or  Greek  coast  of  the  Adriatic,  facing  Brentesion  (now 
Brindisi),  a  region  of  thunder-fire,  like  the  Phlegrsean  Plains  at  the  base  of 
Vesuvius. 


THE  PROPHECY  OF  CAPYS. 

IT  can  hardly  be  necessary  to  remind  any  reader  that  ac- 
cording to  the  popular  tradition,  Romulus,  after  he  had  slain 
his  grand-uncle  Amulius,  and  restored  his  grandfather  Nu- 
mitor,  determined  to  quit  Alba,  the  hereditary  domain  of  the 
Sylvian  princes,  and  to  found  a  new  city.  The  Gods,  it  was 
added,  vouchsafed  the  clearest  signs  of  the  favor  with  which 
they  regarded  the  enterprise,  arid  of  the  high  destinies  re- 
served for  the  young  colony. 
This  event  was  likely  to  be  a  favorite  theme  of  the  old  Latin 

10  minstrels.  They  would  naturally  attribute  the  project  of  Rom- 
ulus to  some  divine  intimation  of  the  power  and  prosperity 
which  it  was  decreed  that  his  city  should  attain.  They  would 
probably  introduce  seers  foretelling  the  victories  of  unborn 
Consuls  and  Dictators,  and  the  last  great  victory  would  gen- 
erally occupy  the  most  conspicuous  place  in  the  prediction. 
There  is  nothing  strange  in  the  supposition  that  the  poet  who 
was  employed  to  celebrate  the  first  great  triumph  of  the  Ro- 
mans over  the  Greeks  might  throw  his  song  of  exultation  into 
this  form. 

20  The  occasion  was  one  likely  to  excite  the  strongest  feelings 
of  national  pride.  A  great  outrage  had  been  followed  by  a 
great  retribution.  Seven  years  before  this  time,  Lucius  Pos- 
thumius  Megellus,  who  sprang  from  one  of  the  noblest  houses 
of  Rome,  and  had  been  thrice  Consul,  was  sent  ambassador  to 
Tarentum,  with  charge  to  demand  reparation  for  grievous  in- 
juries. The  Tarentines  gave  him  audience  in  their  theater, 
where  he  addressed  them  in  such  Greek  as  he  could  command, 
which,  we  may  well  believe,  was  not  exactly  such  as  Cineas 
would  have  spoken.  An  exquisite  sense  of  the  ridiculous  be- 

3o  longed  to  the  Greek  character  ;  and  closely  connected  with 
this  faculty  was  a  strong  propensity  to  flippancy  and  imperti- 

92 


TIM:   I'KniMiKrY  OF  CAPYS.  93 


nence.  When  Posthumius  placed  an  accent  wrong,  his  hear- 
ers burst  into  a  laugh.  When  he  remonstrated,  they  hooted 
him,  and  called  him  barbarian  ;  and  at  length  hissed  him  off 
the  stage  as  if  he  had  been  a  bad  actor.  As  the  grave  Roman 
retired,  a  buffoon  who,  from  his  constant  drunkenness,  was 
nick-named  the  Pint-pot,  came  up,  with  gestures  of  the  gross- 
est indecency,  and  bespattered  the  senatorial  gown  with  filth. 
Posthumius  turned  round  to  the  multitude,  and  held  up  the 
gown,  as  if  appealing  to  the  universal  law  of  nations.  The  i<> 
sight  only  increased  the  insolence  of  the  Taivnlinrs.  They 
clapped  their  hands,  and  set  up  a  shout  of  Liughler  v.hich 
shook  the  theater.  "Men  of  Tarentum,"  said  Posthiimius, 
u  it  will  take  not  a  little  blood  to  wash  this  gown." 

Rome,  in  consequence  of  this  insult,  declared  war  against 
the  Tarentines.  The  Tarentines  sought  for  allies  beyond  the 
Ionian  Sea.  Pyrrhus,  king  of  Epirus,  came  to  their  help  with 
a  large  army  ;  and,  for  the  first  time,  the  two  great  nations 
of  antiquity  were  fairly  matched  against  each  other. 

The  fame  of  Greece  in  arms,  as  well  as  in  arts,  was  then  at  5° 
the  height.  Half  a  century  earlier,  the  career  of  Alexander 
had  excited  the  admiration  and  terror  of  all  nations  from  the 
Ganges  to  the  Pillars  of  Hercules.  Royal  houses,  founded  by 
Macedonian  captains,  still  reigned  at  Antioch  and  Alexandria. 
That  barbarian  warriors,  led  by  barbarian  chiefs,  should  win 
a  pitched  battle  against  Greek  valor  guided  by  Greek  science, 
seemed  as  incredible  as  it  would  now  seem  that  the  Burmese 
or  the  Siamese  should,  in  the  open  plain,  put  to  flight  an  equal 
number  of  the  best  English  troops.  The  Tarentines  were  con- 
vinced that  their  countrymen  were  irresistible  in  war  ;  and  60 
this  conviction  had  emboldened  them  to  treat  with  the  gross- 
est indignity  one  whom  they  regarded  as  the  representative  of 
an  inferior  race.  Of  the  Greek  generals  then  living,  Pyrrhus 
was  indisputably  the  first.  Among  the  troops  who  were 
trained  in  the  Greek  discipline,  his  Epirotes  ranked  high. 
His  expedition  to  Italy  was  a  turning-point  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  He  found  there  a  people  who,  far  inferior  to  the 
Atheniens  and  Corinthians  in  the  fine  arts,  in  the  speculative 
sciences,  and  in  all  the  refinements  of  life,  were  the  best  sol- 


94  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   HOME. 

7o  diers  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Their  arms,  their  gradations 
of  rank,  their  order  of  battle,  their  method  of  intrench  in  ent, 
were  all  of  Latian  origin,  and  had  all  been  gradually  brought 
near  to  perfection,  not  by  the  study  of  foreign  models,  but  by 
the  genius  and  experience  of  many  generations  of  great  native 
commanders.  The  first  words  which  broke  from  the  king, 
when  his  practiced  eye  had  surveyed  theJJoman  encampment, 
wTere  full  of  meaning :  "  These  barbarians/'  he  said  "  have  no- 
thing barbarous  in  their  military  arrangements."  He  was  at 
first  victorious  ;  for  his  own  talents  were  superior  to  those  of 

80  the  captains  who  were  opposed  to  him  ;  and  the  Romans  were 
not  prepared  for  the  onset  of  the  elephants  of  the  East,  which 
were  then  for  the  first  time  seen  in  Italy — moving  mountains, 
with  long  snakes  for  hands.  But  the  victories  of  the  Epirotes 
were  fiercely  disputed,  dearly  purchased,  and  altogether  un- 
profitable. At  length,  Manius  Curius  Dentatus,  who  had  in 
his  first  Consulship  won  two  triumphs,  was  again  placed  at 
the  head  of  the  Roman  Commonwealth,  and  sent  to  encounter 
the  invaders.  A  great  battle  was  fought  near  Beneventum. 
Pyrrhus  was  completely  defeated.  He  repassed  the  sea  ;  and 

90  the  world  learned,  with  amazement,  that  a  people  had  been 
discovered,  who,  in  fair  fighting,  were  superior  to  the  best 
troops  that  had  been  drilled  on  the  system  of  Parmenio  and 
Antigonus. 

The  conquerors  had  a  good  right  to  exult  in  their  success ; 
for  their  glory  was  all  their  own.  They  had  not  learned  from 
their  enemy  how  to  conquer  him.  It  was  with  their  own  na- 
tional arms,  and  in  their  own  national  battle-array,  that  they 
had  overcome  weapons  and  tactics  long  believed  to  be  invinci- 
ble. The  pilum  and  the  broadsword  had  vanquished  the  Mace- 

100  donian  spear.  The  legion  had  broken  the  Macedonian  pha- 
lanx. Even  the  elephants,  when  the  surprise  produced  by 
their  first  appearance  was  over,  could  cause  no  disorder  in  the 
steady  yet  flexible  battalions  of  Rome. 

It  is  said  by  Florus,  and  may  easily  be  believed,  that  the 
triumph  far  surpassed  in  magnificence  any  that  Rome  had 
previously  seen.  The  only  spoils  which  Papirius  Cursor  and 
Fabius  Maximus  could  exhibit  were  flocks  and  herds,  wagons 


THE    PROPHECY    OF   CAPYS.  95 

of  rude  structure,  and  hi'aps  of  spears  and  helmets.  But 
now,  for  the  first  time,  the  riches  of  Asia  and  the  arts  of 
(invrr  adorned  a  Unman  pagrant.  Plate,  fine  stuff's,  costly  no 
furniture,  rare  animals,  exquisite  paintings  and  sculptures, 
formed  part  of  the  procession.  At  the  banquet  would  be  as- 
sembled a  crowd  of  warriors  and  statesmen,  among  whom 
Manius  Curius  Dentatus  would  take  the  highest  room.  Caius 
Fabricius  Luscinus,  then,  after  two  Consulships  and  two  tri- 
umphs, Censor  of  the  Commonwealth,  would  doubtless  occupy 
a  place  of  honor  at  the  board.  In  situations  less  conspicuous 
probably  lay  some  of  those  who  were,  a  few  years  later,  the  ter- 
ror of  Carthage  ;  Caius  Duilius,  the  founder  of  the  maritime 
greatness  of  his  country  ;  Marcus  Atilius  Regulus,  who  owed  i20 
to  defeat  a  renown  far  higher  than  that  which  he  had  derived 
from  his  victories  ;  and  Caius  Lutatius  Catulus,  who,  while 
suffering  from  a  grievous  wound,  fought  the  great  battle  of 
the  Agates,  and  brought  the  first  Punic  war  to  a  trium- 
phant close.  It  is  impossible  to  recount  the  names  of  these 
eminent  citizens,  without  reflecting  that  they  were  all,  with- 
out exception,  Plebeians,  and  would,  but  for  the  ever-memor- 
able struggle  maintained  by  Caius  Licinius  and  Lucius  Sex- 
tius,  have  been  doomed  to  hide  in  obscurity,  or  to  waste  in 
civil  broils,  the  capacity  and  energy  which  prevailed  against  130 
Pyrrhus  and  Hamilcar. 

On  such  a  day  we  may  suppose  that  the  patriotic  enthusi- 
asm of  a  Latin  poet  would  vent  itself  in  reiterated  shouts  of  lo 
triumphe,  such  as  were  uttered  by  Horace 'on  a  far  less  excit- 
ing occasion,  and  in  boasts  resembling  those  which  Virgil  put 
into  the  mouth  of  Anchises.  The  superiority  of  some  foreign 
nations,  and  especially  of  the  Greeks,  in  the  lazy  arts  of 
peace,  would  be  admitted  with  disdainful  candor ;  but  pre- 
eminence in  all  the  qualities  which  fit  a  people  to  subdue  and 
govern  mankind  would  be  claimed  for  the  Romans.  140 

The  following  lay  belongs  to  the  latest  age  of  Latin  ballad- 
poetry.  Naevius  and  Livius  Andronicus  were  probably  among 
the  children  whose  mothers  held  them  up  to  see  the  chariot  of 
Curius  go  by.  The  minstrel  who  sang  on  that  day  might  pos- 
sibly have  lived  to  read  the  first  hexameters  of  Ennius,  and  to 


96  LAYS    OF    ANCIENT    ROME. 

see  the  first  comedies  of  Plautus.  His  poem,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, shows  a  much  wider  acquaintance  with  the  geography, 
manners,  and  productions  of  remote  nations,  than  would  have 
been  found  in  compositions  of  the  age  of  Camillus.  But  he 
150  troubles  himself  little  about  dates,  and  having  heard  travelers 
talk  with  admiration  of  the  Colossus  of  Rhodes,  and  of  the 
structures  and  gardens  with  which  the  Macedonian  kings  of 
Syria  had  embellished  their  residence  on  the  banks  of  the 
Orontes,  he  has  never  thought  of  inquiring  whether  these 
things  existed  in  the  age  of  Komulus. 


The  Prophecy  of  Capys. 

A  LAY  SUNG  AT  THE  BANQUET  IN  THE  CAPITOL,  ON  THE  DAY 
\\IIKREON  MANIUS  CURIUS  DENTATUS,  A  SECbND  TIME  CONSUL, 
TRIUMPHED  OVER  KING  PYRRHU8  AND  THE  TARENTINES,  IN 
THE  YEAR  OF  THE  CITY  CCCCLXX1X. 

I. 

Now  slain  is  King  Amulius, 

Of  the  great  Sylviaii  line, 
Who  reigned  in  Alba  Louga, 

On  the  throne  of  Aventiue. 
Slain  is  the  Pontiff  Gamers, 

Who  spake  the  words  of  doom  : 
"  The  children  to  the  Tiber  ; 

The  mother  to  the  tomb." 

n. 

In  Alba's  lake  no  fisher 

His  net  to-day  is  flinging : 
On  the  dark  rind  of  Alba's  oaks 

To-day  no  ax  is  ringing  : 
The  yoke  hangs  o'er  the  manger ; 

The  scythe  lies  in  the  hay : 
Through  all  the  Alban  villages 

No  work  is  done  to-day. 

in. 
And  every  Alban  burgher 

Hath  donned  his  whitest  gown  ; 
And  every  head  in  Alba 

161.  Who  spake  the  words  of  doom.— Doom  to  Rhea  Ilia  or  Sylvia,  the 
daughter  of  Numitor,  who  had  been  cruelly  treated  by  his  brother  Amulius, 
and  to  her  twiu  children,  the  daughters  of  the  war-god  Mars. 

97 


98  LAYS    OP   ANCIENT    ROME. 

Wearetlf a  poplar  crown ; 
And  every  Alban  door-post 

With  boughs  and  flowers  is  gay : 
For  to-day  the  dead  are  living  ; 

The  lost  are  found  to-day. 

IV. 

180  They  were  doomed  by  a  bloody  king ; 

They  were  doomed  by  a  lying  priest ; 
They  were  cast  on  the  raging  flood  ; 

They  were  tracked  by  the  raging  beast. 
Raging  beast  and  raging  flood 

Alike  have  spared  the  prey ; 
And  to-day  the  dead  are  living  : 

The  lost  are  found  to-day. 

v. 

The  troubled  river  knew  them, 

And  smoothed  his  yellow  foam, 
J9°  And  gently  rocked  the  cradle 

That  bore  the  fate  of  Rome. 
The  ravening  she-wolf  knew  them, 

And  licked  them  o'er  and  o'er, 
And  gave  them  of  her  own  fierce  milk, 

Rich  with  raw  flesh  and  gore. 
Twenty  winters,  twenty  springs, 

Since  then  have  rolled  away  ; 
And  to-day  the  dead  are  living : 

The  lost  are  found  to-day. 

VT. 

200  Blithe  it  was  to  see  the  twins, 

Right  goodly  youths  and  tall, 
Marching  from  Alba  Longa 

To  their  old  grandsire's  hall. 
Along  their  path  fresh  garlands 

Are  hung  from  tree  to  tree 

193.  The  ravening  she-wolf  knew  them.— See  note  to  "  Horatius," 
line  444 

200.  Blithe  it  was  to  see  the  twins.— Romulus  and  Remus.  The  two 
names  are  only  varied  forms  of  the  same  word. 


THK    PKolMIKCY    OP    CAPYS.  99 

Before  them  stride  the  pipers, 
Piping  a  note  of  glee. 

VII. 

On  the  right  goes  Romulus, 

With  arms  to  the  elbows  red, 
And  in  his  hand  a  broadsword, 

And  on  the  blade  a  head — 
A  head  in  an  iron  helmet, 

With  horse-hair  hanging  down, 
A  shaggy  head,  a  swarthy  head, 

Fixed  in  a  ghastly  frown — 
The  head  of  King  Amulius 

Of  the  great  Sylvian  line, 
Who  reigned  in  Alba  Longa, 

On  the  throne  of  Aventine. 

VIII. 

On  the  left  side  goes  Remus, 

With  wrists  and  fingers  red, 
And  in  his  hand  a  boar-spear, 

And  on  the  point  a  head — 
A  wrinkled  head  and  aged, 

With  silver  beard  and  hair, 
And  holy  fillets  round  it, 

Such  as  the  pontiffs  wear — 
The  head  of  ancient  Gamers, 

Who  spake  the  words  of  doom  : 
"  The  children  to  the  Tiber  ; 

The  mother  to  the  tomb.'' 

IX. 

Two  and  two  behind  the  twins 

Their  trusty  comrades  go, 
Four  and  forty  valiant  men, 

With  club,  and  ax,  and  bow. 
On  each  side  every  hamlet 

Pours  forth  its  joyous  crowd, 
Shouting  lads  and  baying  dogs 

And  children  laughing  loud, 
And  old  men  weeping  foadly 


100  LAYS  OF  ANCIENT  ROME. 

As  Rhea's  boys  go  by, 
And  maids  who  shriek  to  see  the  heads, 
Yet,  shrieking,  press  more  nigh. 

x. 

So  they  marched  along  the  lake  ; 
They  marched  by  fold  and  stall, 
By  corn-field  and  by  vineyard. 
Unto  the  old  man's  hall. 

XI. 

1  In  the  hall -gate  sate  Capys, 
Capys,  the  sightless  seer  ; 
250  From  head  to  foot  he  trembled 

As  Romulus  drew  near. 
And  up  stood  still  his  thin  white  hair, 

And  his  blind  eyes  flashed  fire  : 
"Hail !  foster  child  of  the  wondrous  nurse  ! 
Hail  !  son  of  the  wondrous  sire  1" 

XII. 

"But  thou — what  dost  thou  here 

In  the  old  man's  peaceful  hall  ? 
What  doth  the  eagle  in  the  coop, 

The  bison  in  the  stall  ? 
260  Our  corn  fills  many  a  garner  ; 

Our  vines  clasp  many  a  tree  ; 
Our  flocks  are  white  on  many  a  hill 

But  these  are  not  for  thee. 

XIII. 

"  For  thee  no  treasure  ripens 

In  the  Tartessian  mine  : 
For  thee  no  ship  brings  precious  bales 

Across  the  Libyan  brine  : 


241.  As  Rhea's  boys  go  by.— See  note  to  "  Horatius,"  line  444. 

254.  Hail !  foster  child  of  the  wonderous  nurse  !— The  she- wolf. 

255.  Hail !  son  of  the  wonderous  sire  !— The  war-god  Mars. 

265.  In  the  Tartessian  mine.— The  reference  is  to  mines  in  the  region 
of  Southern  Spain,  called  by  the  Phenicians  Tarshish,  in  the  Greek  from 
Tartessos. 

267.  Across  the  labyaii  brine.— The  sea  separating  Libya,  or  North- 
Western  Africa,  from  Europe. 


THE    PROPHECY    OF    CAl»Y6.  101 

Thou  shall  not  drink  from  umber  :  •* 

'1'hou  sh;ill  not,  -i'st  </!.'  (U>\\  i.«  ; 
Arubia  sluilt  not  sice'),  Ihy  l.t.-Us.  270 

Nor  Sidon   liniiv  Ihy  gown. 
XIV. 

"Leave  gold  and  myrrh  and  jewels, 

Rich  table  and  soft  bed, 
To  them  who  of  man's  seed  are  born, 

Whom  woman's  milk  have  fed. 
Thou  wast  not  made  for  lucre, 

For  pleasure,  nor  for  rest ; 
Thou,  that  are  sprung  from  the  War-god's  loins, 

And  hast  tugged  at  the  she-wolf's  breast. 

xv. 
"  From  sunrise  unto  sunset  280 

All  earth  shall  hear  thy  fame  ; 
A  glorious  city  thou  shalt  build, 

And  name  it  by  thy  name  : 
And  there,  uuquenched  through  ages, 

Like  Vesta's  sacred  fire, 
Shall  live  the  spirit  of  thy  nurse, 

The  spirit  of  thy  sire. 

XVI. 

"  The  ox  toils  through  the  furrow, 

Obedient  to  the  goad  ; 
The  patient  ass,  up  flinty  paths,  290 

Plods  with  his  weary  load  : 
With  whine  and  bound  the  spaniel 

His  master's  whistle  hears  ; 
And  the  sheep  yields  her  patiently 

To  the  loud-clashing  shears. 

XVII. 

"But  thy  nurse  will  hear  no  master  ; 

Thy  nurse  will  bear  no  load  ; 
And  woe  to  them  that  shear  her, 

And  woe  to  them  that  goad  ! 
When  all  the  pack,  loud  baying,  300 

s»5.  Like  Vesta's  sacred  fire.— See  note  to  "  Horatius,"  line  313,  and  to 
line  965  "  Battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus." 


102  LAYS  OF  ANCIENT  KQME. 

Her.  Woody  lair  surrounds, 

ti^he1  dies  .in  sileace,  b?.ting  Lard, 

Amidst  ilie  dying  -hounds. 

XVIII. 

"  Pomona  loves  the  orchard  ; 

And  Liber  loves  the  vine  ; 
And  Pales  loves  the  straw-built  shed 

Warm  with  the  breath  of  kiue  ; 
And  Venus  loves  the  whispers 

Of  plighted  youth  and  maid, 
310  In  April's  ivory  moonlight 

Beneath  the  chestnut  shade. 

XIX. 

"  But  thy  father  loves  the  clashing 

Of  broadsword  and  of  shield  : 
He  loves  to  drink  the  steam  that  reeks 

From  the  fresh  battle-field  : 
He  smiles  a  smile  more  dreadful 

Than  his  own  dreadful  frown, 
When  he  sees  the  thick  black  cloud  of  smoke 

Go  up  from  the  conquered  town. 

xx. 

32o  "  And  such  as  is  the  War- god, 

The  author  of  thy  line, 
And  such  as  she  who  suckled  thee, 

Even  such  be  thou  and  thine. 
Leave  to  the  soft  Campanian 

His  baths  and  his  perfumes ;  t 

Leave  to  the  sordid  race  of  Tyre 


304.  Pomona  loves  the  orchard.— The  Latin  goddess  of  fruits. 

305.  And  Liber  loves  the  vine.— Liber, /ree,  an  epithet  of  the  wine-god 
Bacchus,  as  freeing  men  from  their  cares. 

306.  And  Pales  loves  the  straw-built  shed.— Pales,  a  rustic  god,  or 
goddess,  whose  name,  like  that  of  the  Sicilian  Palici,  is  akin  probably  to 
Pallas. 

308.  And  Venus  loves  the  whispers. — Venus,  the  Latin  goddess  of 
beauty  and  love,  answers  to  the  Greek  Aphrodite.  According  to  the  Roman 
tradition,  she  was  the  mother  of  .iEneas,  the  progenitor  of  the  Roman  race. 

326.  Leave  to  the  sordid  race  of  Tyre. — Sordid,  as  busying  themselves 
only  with  trade  and  commerce.  See  note  to  '•  Battle  of  the  Lake  Regillus," 
line  422. 


THE  PROPHECY  OF  CAPY8.  103 

Their  dyeing- vats  and  looms : 
Leave  to  the  sous  of  Carthage 

The  rudder  and  the  oar  : 
Leave  to  the  Greek  his  marble  Nymphs  330 

And  scrolls  of  wordy  lore. 

XXI. 

"  Thine,  Roman,  is  the  pilum  : 
Roman,  the  sword  is  thine, 
The  even  trench,  the  bristling  mound, 

The  legion's  ordered  line  : 
And  thine  the  wheels  of  triumph, 

Which  with  their  laureled  train 
Move  slowly  up  the  shouting  streets 

To  Jove's  eternal  fane. 

XXII. 

"  Beneath  thy  yoke  the  Volscian  340 

Shall  veil  his  lofty  brow  : 
Soft  Capua's  curled  revelers 

Before  thy  chairs  shall  bow : 
The  Lucumoes  of  Arnus 

Shall  quake  thy  rods  to  see  ; 
And  the  proud  Samnite's  heart  of  steel 

Shall  yield  to  only  thee. 

XXIII. 

"  The  Gaul  shall  come  against  thee 

From  the  land  of  snow  and  night : 
Thou  shalt  give  his  fair-haired  armies  350 

To  the  raven  and  the  kite. 


328.  Leave  to  the  sons  of  Carthage.— See  note  to  "  Battle  of  the  Lake 
Regillus,"  line  423. 

330.  Leave  to  the  Greek  his  marble  nymphs.— Statues  of  nymphs, 
the  maidens  with  whom  the  imagination  ©f  the  Greeks  peopled  the  woods 
and  waters,  mountains  and  caves 

332  Thine,  Roman,  is  the  pilum. — The  Pilum  was  the  long:  spear  car- 
ried by  the  heavy-armed  soldiers  of  the  Roman  legion,  who  were  therefore 
called  Pilani,  those  who  stood  before  them  being  known  as  Antepilani. 

344.  The  L-ucumoes  of  Arnus.— See  note  to  "  Horatius,"  line  268. 

348,  The  Gaul  shall  come  against  thee.— The  reference  is  to  the  inva- 
sion of  the  Gauls  under  Brenrius,  and  to  their  discomfiture  by  the  Dictator, 
M.  Furius  Camillas. 


104  LAYS    OF   ANCIENT   ROME. 

XXTV. 

"  The  Greek  shall  come  against  thee, 

The  conqueror  of  the  East, 
Beside  him  stalks  to  battle 

The  huge  earth-shaking  beast, 
The  beast  on  whom  the  castle 

With  all  its  guards  doth  stand, 
The  beast  who  hath  between  his  eyes 

The  serpent  for  a  hand. 
36o  First  march  the  bold  Epirotes. 

Wedged  close  with  shield  and  spear  ; 
And  the  ranks  of  false  Tarentum 

Are  glittering  in  the  rear. 

xxv. 

The  ranks  of  False  Tarentum 
Like  hunted  sheep  shall  fly : 
In  vain  the  bold  Epirotes 

Shall  round  their  standards  die  : 
And  Apennine's  gray  vultures 

Shall  have  a  noble  feast 
37o  On  the  fat  and  the  eyes 

Of  the  huge  earth-shaking  beast. 

XXVI. 

"Hurrah  !  for  the  good  weapons 

That  keep  the  War-god's  land. 
Hurrah  !  for  Rome's  stout  pilum 

In  a  stout  Roman  hand. 
Hurrah  !  for  Rome's  short  broadsword, 

That  through  the  thick  array 
Of  leveled  spears  and  serried  shields 

Hews  deep  its  gory  way. 

352.  The  Greek  shall  come  against  the e.— The  Greek  invader  is  Pyr- 
rhus,  king  of  Epeirus.  See  the  Preface. 

355.  The  huge  earth-shaking  beast.— The  elephant,  with  which  the 
Romans  now  first  became  acquainted. 

362.  And  the  ranks  of  false  Tarentum.— Tarentum  was  one  of  the 
chief  cities  of  Great  Greece,  Magna  Graecia.  See  note  to  "Battle  of  the  Lake 
Regillus,"  line  825. 

372.  Hurrah  !  for  the  good  weapons.— The  seer  is  here  drawing  a  con- 
trast between  the  weapons  used  by  the  Roman  legionaries  and  those  of  the 
Greek  Phalanx. 


THE   PROPHECY    OF    CAPYS.  105 

XXVII. 

"  Hurrah  !  for  the  great  triumph  380 

That  stretches  many  a  mile. 
Hurrah  !  for  the  wan  captives 

That  pass  iu  endless  tile. 
Ho  1  bold  Epirotes,  whither 
Hath  the  Red  King  ta'en  flight  ? 

Ho  1  dogs  of  False  Tarentum, 

Is  not  the  gown  washed  white  ? 

XXVIII. 

"  Hurrah  1  for  the  great  triumph 

That  stretches  many  a  mile. 
Hurrah  !  for  the  rich  dye  of  Tyre,  390 

And  the  fine  web  of  Nile, 
The  helmets  gay  with  plumage 

Torn  from  the  pheasant's  wings, 
The  belts  set  thick  with  starry  gems 

That  shone  on  Indian  kings, 
The  urns  of  massy  silver, 

The  goblets  rough  with  gold, 
The  many-colored  tablets  bright 

With  loves  and  wars  of  old, 
The  stone  that  breathes  and  struggles, 

The  brass  that  seems  to  speak  ; — 
Such  cunning  they  who  dwell  on  high 

Have  given  unto  the  Greek. 

XXIX. 

"  Hurrah  !  for  Manius  Curius, 

The  bravest  son  of  Rome 
Thrice  in  utmost  need  sent  forth, 

Thrice  drawn  in  triumph  home. 

385.  Hath  the  Red  King  ta'en  flight?— The  word  Pyrrhus means  red, 
like  the  Latin  Kufus. 

390.  Hurrah!  for  the  rich  dye  of  Tyre.— See  note  to  "Battle  of  the 
Lake  Regillus,"  line  422. 

407.  Thrice  drawn  in  triumph  home — The  Dictator  Manius  Curius 
Dentatus  defeated  Pyrrhus  in  the  battle  of  Beueventum,  B.C.  274.  See  note 
to  line  362. 


106  LAYS    OP   ANCIENT    ROME. 

Weave,  weave,  for  Manius  Curius 

The  third  embroidered  gown  : 
4»o  Make  ready  the  third  lofty  car, 

And  twine  the  third  green  crown  ; 
And  yoke  the  steeds  of  Rosea 

With  necks  like  a  bended  bow, 
And  deck  the  bull,  Mevania's  bull, 

The  bull  as  white  as  snow. 

XXX. 

"Blest  and  thrice  blest  the  Roman 

Who  sees  Rome's  brightest  day, 
Who  sees  that  long  victorious  pomp 

Wind  down  the  Sacred  Way, 
420  And  through  the  bellowing  Forum, 

And  round  the  Suppliant's  Grove, 
Up  to  the  everlasting  gates 

O*  Capitolian  Jove. 

XXXI. 

"  Then  where,  o'er  two  bright  havens, 

The  towers  of  Corinth  frown  ; 
Where  the  gigantic  King  of  Day 

On  his  own  Rhodes  looks  down  ; 
Where  soft  Orontes  murmurs 

Beneath  the  laurel  shades  ; 
43o  Where  Nile  reflects  the  endless  length 

Of  dark-red  colonnades ; 
Where  in  the  still  deep  water, 

Sheltered  from  waves  and  blasts, 
Bristles  the  dusky  forest 

419.  Wind  down  the  Sacred  Way.— See  note  to  "  Virginia,"  line  284. 
'    420.  And  through  the  bellowing  Forum.— See  note  to  "Virginia," 
line  292. 

424.  Then  where,  o'er  two  bright  havens.— Situated  on  an  isthmus  of 
three  miles  in  width,  Corinth  had  a  port  on  the  Saronic  as  well  as  on  the 
Corinthian  or  Crissaean  Gulf. 

426.  Where  the  gigantic  King  of  Day.— The  colossal  statute  of  the 
sun,  which  was  reckoned  among  the  seven  wonders  of  the  world. 

428.  Where  soft  Orontes  murmurs.— The  Syrian  river  on  which  was 
built  the  city  of  Antioch.  i 


THE    PROPHECY    OF    CAPY8.  107 

Of  Brysa's  thousand  masts  ; 
Where  fur-clad  hunters  wander 

Amidst  the  northern  ice  : 
Where  through  the  sand  of  morning-laud 

The  camel  bears  the  spice  ; 
Where  Atlas  flings  his  shadow  440 

Far  o'er  the  western  foam, 
Shall  be  great  fear  on  all  who  hear 

The  mighty  name  of  Rome." 

435.  Of  llyrsa's  thousand  masts.— Byrsa,  in  Hebrew  or  Phenician 
Bozra,  the  citadel  of  Carthage. 

440.  Where  Atlas  flings  his  shadow.— The  great  mountain  range  of 
North- Western  Africa,  which  was  supposed  to  bear  up  the  heavens,  in  the 
myth  of  Atlas. 


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1  Byron'*    Pro 

(Cantos  I.  an« 

2  Milton's  L'Al 

•eroao. 
8  Lord  Itaoon's  Essays,  Civil  aim 

Moral.    (Selected.) 
4  Hyroii's  Prisoner  of  Chillon. 
6  Moore's      Fire      Worshippers. 

(Lalla  Rooku.    Selected. ) 

6  Goldsmith's  Deserted  Village. 

7  Scott's     Marmiou.        (Selections 

from  Canto  VI.) 

8  Scott's  Lay  of  the  Last  Minstrel. 

(Introduction  atid  Canto  I.) 

9  Burns'sCotter'sSaturday Night, 

and  other  Poems. 

10  Crabbe's  The  Village. 

11  Campbell's  Pleas-urea  of  Hope. 

(Abridgment  of  Part  I.) 

12  Macaulay's  Essay  on  Banyan's 

Pilgrim's  Progress. 

13  Macaulay's  Armada,  and  other 

Poems. 

14  Shakespeare's  Merchant  of  Ve- 

nice.   (Selections  from  Acts  L, 
III.,  and  IV.) 

15  Goldsmith's  Traveller. 

16  Hogg's  Queen's  Wake,  andKil- 

meny. 

17  Coleridge's  Anhlent  mariner. 

18  Addison's  Sir  Koacr  de  Cover- 

ley. 

19  Gray's    Elegtr    In    a    Country 

Churchyard. 
tO  Scott's  Lady  of  the  Lake.  (Canto 

21  Shakespeare's  As  You  Like  It, 

etc.    (Selections.) 

22  Shakespeare's  King  John,  and 

Richard  II.    (Selections.) 

23  Shakespeare's  Henry  IV.,  Hen- 
o*  oiT5^''  HenlT  V1»    ('Selections.) 

24  Shakespeare's  Henry  VIII.,  and 

Julius  Csesar.    (Selections.) 
5  Wordsworth's  Excursion.  (Bk.I.) 
Pope's  Essay  on  Criticism. 

2 7  Spen ser 's Faerie gueene.  (Cantos 

L  and  n.) 

28  Cowper's  Task.    (Book  I.) 
Milton's  Com  us. 

30  Tennyson's  Enoch  Arden,  The 
Lotus  Eaters,  Ulysses,  and 
Tithonus, 


"7^ mar,  etc. 

ry  and 


CDOb?b3flt,S 


>ok.    (Seleo- 
ias      CaroL 


»»..  ^....>F.^  Prophet. 

34  Macaulay's  Warren    Hastings. 

(Condensed.) 

35  Goldsmith's    Vicar    of    Wake- 

field.    (Condensed.) 

36  Tennyson's    The    Two  Voices, 

and  a  Dream  of  Fair  Women. 

37  Memory  o notations. 

38  Cavalier  Poets. 

39  JDryden's     Alexander's     Feast, 

and  MacFleckuoe. 

40  Keats'  The  Eve  of  St.  Agnes. 

41  Irving's  Legend  of  Sleepy  Hol- 

low. 

42  Lamb's    Tales      from     Shake- 

speare. 

43  Le  Row's  How  to  Teach  Bead- 

ing. . 

44  Webster's    Bunker   Hill    Ora- 

tions.      ^^,^^f^ 

45  The  Academy    OrthoSpist.     A 

Manual  of  Pronunciation. 

46  Milton's    Lycidas,    and    Hymn 

on  the  Nativity. 
47.Bryaut'8  Ihauutopsls,  and  other 

Poems. 
4,8  Ruskin'a      Modern      Painters. 

(Selections.) 

49  The  Shakespeare  Speaker. 

50  Thackeray's    Roundabout    Pa- 

pers. 

51  Webster's   Oration  on   Adams 

and  Jefferson. 

52  Brown's  Rab  and  His  Friends. 

53  Morris's    Life    and     Death    of 

Jason. 

54  Burke's   Speech  on  American 

Taxation. 

55  Pope's  Rape  of  the  Lock. 
50  Tennyson's  Elaine. 

57  Tennyson's  In  Memorlam. 
68  Church's  Story  of  the  JBneid. 

59  Church's  Story  of  the  Iliad. 

60  Swift's    Gulliver's    Voyage    to 

Lilliput. 

61  Macaulay's  Essay  on  Lord  Ba- 

con.   (Condensed.) 

62  The  Alcestis  of  Kuripides. 


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ENGLISH  CLASSIC  SERIES— CONTINUED. 


63  The    Antigone    of    Sophocles. 

English  Version  by  Thos.  Franck- 
lin,D.D. 

64  Elizabeth    Barrett    Browning. 

(Selected  Poems.) 

65  Robert     Urowning.       (Selected 

Poems.) 

66  Addison,  The  Spectator.  (Sel'ns.) 

67  Scenes     from    George    Eliot's 

Adam  Bede. 

68  Matthew  Arnold's  Cnltr  re  and 

Anarchy. 

69  DeQuinoey's  Joan  of  Arc* 

70  Carlyle's  Essay  on  Bums. 

71  Byron's   ChUde    Harold's   Pil- 

grimage. 

72  Poe's  Haven,  and  other  Poems. 

73  &  74  Macaulay's     I-ord     Clive. 

(Double  Number.) 
75  Webster's  Keply  to  Hayne. 


76  &  77  Macanlay's   Lays  of  An- 
cient Borne.    (Double  Number.) 

78  American  Patriotic  Selections : 

Declaration  of  independence, 
Washington's  Farewell  Ad- 
dress, Lincoln's  Gettysburg 
Speech,  etc. 

79  &  80  Scott's  Lady  of  the  take. 

(Condensed.) 

81  &  83  Scott's     Marxnlon.      (Con- 
densed.) 

83  &  84  Pope's  Essay  on  Man. 

85  Shelley's  Skylark,  Adonais,  and 

other  Poems. 

86  Dickens's       Cricket      on      the 

Hearth. 

87  Spencer's  Philosophy  of  Style. 

88  Lamb's  Essays  of  Elia. 

89  Cowper's  Task,  Book  II. 

90  Wordsworth's  Selected  Poems. 


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